tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65933092884684558572024-03-18T20:58:35.446-07:00FOREST ARMYRemembering the Civilian Conservation CorpsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-48326372050057554752023-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:002023-11-30T19:09:50.295-08:00A quick nod to teamwork and dedication and a thank you.<p> </p><p>The Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942) was a model of cooperative effort involving multiple government agencies at the federal and local level. The teamwork of the military and the technical agencies like the Forest Service, Soil Conservation Service, Bureau of Reclamation and so forth, was likely the linchpin on which the whole effort turned.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYlyETGLONfE5PlLrUX4HpcTsCjDOjGK9TCCUQGX7W5UZgGABAKIxfhMQdKj2ZAwNI59U-bwDEOftTTT64oLo0OqEzJ94BjDpsXcLbJ1430sSvsr6Nv4CNvtKrddzwjUWi7ippUw-1_IrRwNWd3tBfwgmjkfgL-gk9zkV4XIi4-EfBLgjaTBHsmz4v_GIp/s2661/E%20%20Officer%20and%20Foreman%20Custer%20NF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2661" data-original-width="2051" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYlyETGLONfE5PlLrUX4HpcTsCjDOjGK9TCCUQGX7W5UZgGABAKIxfhMQdKj2ZAwNI59U-bwDEOftTTT64oLo0OqEzJ94BjDpsXcLbJ1430sSvsr6Nv4CNvtKrddzwjUWi7ippUw-1_IrRwNWd3tBfwgmjkfgL-gk9zkV4XIi4-EfBLgjaTBHsmz4v_GIp/s320/E%20%20Officer%20and%20Foreman%20Custer%20NF.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /><p>I'm hoping I can resume posts here and at the CCC Resource Page. Perhaps I'll consolidate all of the articles in one blog, moving the posts from this blog over to the more aptly named CCC Resource Page. </p><p>My thanks to those of you who've checked in over the years. I don't think I've posted anything of merit since 2014. I appreciate that anyone bothers to drop in after such a long silence on my part. </p><p>Thank you</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-83662245834790902542014-03-01T11:12:00.000-08:002014-03-01T11:12:25.248-08:00Some Administrative Housekeeping
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Rs4ire8bR1B2PO3BAPu8nHh_T717n7T6db143Dc9wEsLvFXwWc6WoJZRwlBuw3oaiUwWtPQtM2eUsYcjar7sUj6H6TZD_w5ePVWUuxKW8xuxirXu2wuu5cdscwcOCOCPQ0QUaCrAt2wB/s1600/Accept+no+substitutes+WPA+mock+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Rs4ire8bR1B2PO3BAPu8nHh_T717n7T6db143Dc9wEsLvFXwWc6WoJZRwlBuw3oaiUwWtPQtM2eUsYcjar7sUj6H6TZD_w5ePVWUuxKW8xuxirXu2wuu5cdscwcOCOCPQ0QUaCrAt2wB/s1600/Accept+no+substitutes+WPA+mock+up.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<em>© Michael I. Smith, 2014<o:p></o:p></em></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
BACKGROUND</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is the first post at Forest Army for 2014 and it seems
that perhaps it is time to undertake some administrative housekeeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frequent visitors here will know that I
maintain a separate – more active – Civilian Conservation Corps blog at the </span><a href="http://cccresources.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Civilian Conservation Corps Resource
Page.</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, I may phase out
posts here at Forest Army and hopefully migrate content that is currently here,
over to the CCC Resource Page but in the meantime, visitors can jump between
the two blogs by clicking the image under the phrase “Please visit my other CCC
blog” which appears along the left hand side of the blog page here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that visitors will find ample reason
to jump between the two in search of new, interesting CCC material but my hope
is that you won’t find the jumping between blogs to be too bothersome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
BUYER BEWARE!</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Recently, while doing a Google search for material related
to the Civilian Conservation Corps, an image from this blog appeared with the
related Google images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Problem was, when
I checked the source of the image, the link took me to a different blog with a
very similar name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More shocking still,
that blog is an exact copy of the Forest Army blog you are viewing here, except
the posts are listed as having been posted by a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Walters Louann”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, the copyright line I put at the
end of my articles does appear on the mirror site but it’s disconcerting to see
your work posted verbatim on another blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sent an email to the Google Blogger folks but, perhaps not
surprisingly, there was no response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
suspect the site that is mirroring my blog is coming from overseas; perhaps
Asia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m not relaying this bit of information because I think you
should go over and view the blog that is basically an exact copy of my Forest
Army blog, not even out of basic curiosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the contrary, I think you should avoid going to that blog because I
don’t have any idea what sort of spam or malware might be attached to the links
they are using.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Going forward, you will
likely see my copyright information more prominently posted here at Forest Army
and at the CCC Resource Page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I research
and write about the CCC in order to share information and I’m pleased when
visitors comment that my site is helpful or interesting and I generally agree
to any requests to use information or link to my page, but obviously, finding a
pirate blog that purports to be Forest Army is frustrating and I will do what I
can to make certain that my own research and writing is recognized, for better
or worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3>
DROP ME A NOTE</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Please enter a comment or question if you have one either here
or at the CCC Resource Page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feedback,
any feedback, is often the spark that motivates people to continue researching and
writing and the effort becomes somewhat meaningless if the worker never hears
back from the folks using the product of his or her labor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">© Michael I. Smith, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-5108381539739643302013-12-16T15:01:00.000-08:002013-12-16T15:01:10.384-08:00Raising and Deploying a Conservation Army<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A longer version
of this article appeared in the May/June 2013 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Army Engineer</i> magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have retained the original references list but retitled it “For Further
Reading” since some of the sources listed were not used for the portions of the
article that appears here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also,
throughout this piece I refer to the “army” as the driving force behind the
mobilization and deployment of the CCC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact the War Department was the military agency tasked with the job
of in-processing and caring for enrollees and the bulk of that task fell to the
Army, however you will find instances of CCC camps being run by Marine Corps
and Navy officers as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGBFAjOaksem6-XHFYJEj_Rs2Z-qAPMoaBUjevzMCbh8LMZHuK-EuUydy6cIotpsMKBbCCTPIw9Yp-6bpK12DMW0_imzuQzWVSL-jtS1S0rXL-OhbZOhxUy_g_3fWMK8_wCpPABEH_hv2/s1600/blog+Fort+Knox+Conditioning+Camp+1934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGBFAjOaksem6-XHFYJEj_Rs2Z-qAPMoaBUjevzMCbh8LMZHuK-EuUydy6cIotpsMKBbCCTPIw9Yp-6bpK12DMW0_imzuQzWVSL-jtS1S0rXL-OhbZOhxUy_g_3fWMK8_wCpPABEH_hv2/s320/blog+Fort+Knox+Conditioning+Camp+1934.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, Fort Knox conditioning camp, 1934.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On March 24, 1933 the commanders of
all nine Army Corps areas received a secret radio communique, warning of a potential
task of national importance about to be delegated to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No doubt the message was received with some
trepidation, angst and frustration, for the upshot of the broadcast was that
the United States Army should prepare for a mass mobilization of men that would
ultimately exceed that which was undertaken in connection with America’s
involvement in World War I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet,
while many in the military may have cursed their luck in early 1933, by years’
end many would agree with the sentiments of Colonel Duncan K. Major who,
writing in the July-August 1933 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Army
Ordnance</i>, noted that “Few military campaigns have equaled such a
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the Army it offered a
real opportunity.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What sort of message
would cause the Corps area commanders to sit up and take notice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anticipating passage of the bill to create
the Civilian Conservation Corps, the War Department sent word to all nine Corps
commanders, putting them on notice that the initial tasks of in-processing,
conditioning, organizing, equipping and transporting the new enrollees to their
respective railheads would fall to the Army.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the outset, and even as the first enrollees began to roll in
following the passage of the legislation that created the CCC on March 31,
1933, the role of the Army was to have been limited, with control of the new
enrollees reverting to various technical services such as the Forest Service
and National Park Service at the earliest opportunity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the world situation and the state of
military preparedness in the United States in 1933, it is little wonder that
even this supposedly limited military role met with concern both within the
military and in civilian circles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many Americans,
wary of burgeoning militarism overseas and with memories of World War I still
fresh in their minds, opposed anything that smacked of increased militarism or
rearmament at home and the status of the United States military, ranked 17th in
the world, was a reflection of this broad sentiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1933 most Army units were far from fully
staffed; George C. Marshall commanded a battalion that should have counted
upwards of 1,000 men on its roster but which in fact could muster barely 200
men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not surprising then that within the
military ranks the postwar officer corps questioned, justifiably, the
military’s ability to undertake even a limited role in the mobilization of the
CCC while still maintaining any sort of national defense posture in the
process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCBdfnsOfG3A_PpswEYYEPb8PZ1o-OBQCAUADeY1LQ5Rg52ExJlvxCoBbDrOq5Bs2gNpc-6X44YO_Wo7A91AcQAa_MXfOzykUkMvRTuKi29K0mTAap2UEy86v72Csi-gcmsvuvSwUDigW/s1600/blog+CPT+Luton+Active+Duty+Letter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCBdfnsOfG3A_PpswEYYEPb8PZ1o-OBQCAUADeY1LQ5Rg52ExJlvxCoBbDrOq5Bs2gNpc-6X44YO_Wo7A91AcQAa_MXfOzykUkMvRTuKi29K0mTAap2UEy86v72Csi-gcmsvuvSwUDigW/s320/blog+CPT+Luton+Active+Duty+Letter.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Letter to Cpt. James N. Luton, 323rd Infantry<br />
informing him that his application for active<br />
duty service with the CCC has been received. 1936.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And yet, that is
exactly what happened, and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it
became clear that the agencies involved (Department of War, Department of
Labor, Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture) would be unable to
meet President Roosevelt’s goal of placing 250,000 young men in forestry camps
by July 1, 1933, under the original organizational matrix, the Army assumed
control of all matters except supervision of the work being done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With its expanded role, the Army reluctantly
found itself in charge of CCC enrollees all hours of the day except the time
they were away from the camp working for the technical service – approximately
eight hours a day, five days a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The increased Army
role cleared some of the logjams, but mobilizing and deploying enrollees
continued to lag behind and it remained clear that the President’s goal would still
not be met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again the Army was called in
to formulate a plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given less than 40
hours, Colonel Duncan K. Major, the Army’s representative on the President’s
Advisory Council assembled sections from the General Staff and worked through
the day and night of May 11<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and into the early hours of the 12<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
to assemble the relevant facts, draw appropriate conclusions and propose a
suitable recommendation that concluded with the following blunt proposal:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is therefore recommended that if
the decision is to place 274,375 men in work camps by July 1, 1933, the
Director give the War Department its full mission at once, provide the means
for its accomplishment and then protect it from all interference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The means to be provided are: 1. $46,000,000
to be transferred at once; 2. An Executive Order waiving restriction on
purchases; 3. The necessary instructions to the Department of Labor covering
selection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The updated plan
was immediately approved by President Roosevelt and the impact of the Army’s
further expanded role and greater discretionary power was almost immediate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas just 52,000 young men had been
enrolled in the CCC by May 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>, national enrollment jumped to over
62,000 by May 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>, increased by another 8,100 men on the 17<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
and further increased by 10,500 men on the 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> of May.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately, the President’s goal to have a
quarter million enrollees working in more than 1,000 camps by July 1, 1933 was
met because the Army was given greater flexibility and the massive effort
decentralized down to the level of the nine Corps areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an article in the January-February 1934
issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Military Engineer</i> Major
John Guthrie, Corps of Engineers, reported the results of that effort with
pride:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 1in 10pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This whole movement was an
unprecedented mobilization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An average
of 8,450 men per day was enrolled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
accomplish the movements from conditioning camps (Army posts) to work camps,
211 special trains were used, carrying 64,196 men in 1,605 sleepers and
coaches; of these, 55,130 men went from Corps Areas I, II, and III to the far
west.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To equip and supply this tree Army
of 314,000 men has been a tremendous job in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The effort truly
was unprecedented, but it was a drain on the Army’s resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All but two Army schools were closed, their
faculty and students mobilized for duty with the Civilian Conservation Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the 9,936 regular Army officers available
when the CCC was established, 5,239 were called up for full time service
related to the CCC, but there was satisfaction in a job well done and by
mid-1933, even Colonel Major, initially a skeptic, was moved to write glowingly
of the CCC mobilization for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Army Ordnance</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GIzUOvn2qWvlwNWDneHzm71UiamCpv2qVhvadOen9dYMzjgmVKht_IhKl7aKs0ot7XWqok2zlPq-AKNw9bBA5y5q07Qot2Ihe3mto1kBLOlzyY5P9RSi4iyY4ovcOUb0E65dzpLnL1bq/s1600/blog+Camp+Roosevelt+Army+Staff,+1933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GIzUOvn2qWvlwNWDneHzm71UiamCpv2qVhvadOen9dYMzjgmVKht_IhKl7aKs0ot7XWqok2zlPq-AKNw9bBA5y5q07Qot2Ihe3mto1kBLOlzyY5P9RSi4iyY4ovcOUb0E65dzpLnL1bq/s400/blog+Camp+Roosevelt+Army+Staff,+1933.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Regular Army officers and an NCO at Camp Roosevelt,<br />
the first CCC camp, 1933.<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">History records
the War Department’s nearly decade long association with the CCC as an
unparalleled success and despite rough patches, especially in the early months,
and despite the public’s initial fear that the CCC would somehow become
“militarized” by its connection to the Army, media accounts of the CCC
eventually became heavy with military metaphors (“tree Army,” “soil soldiers,”
“forests protected by ‘shock troops’ of the CCC”) and by the early 1940s the
CCC’s effort was refocused on national defense work as the economy improved and
enrollment declined, but always with an eye toward improving the enrollee, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually,
active duty officers were rotated out of CCC service, replaced by reserve
officers from all branches of the military, many of them eager for an
opportunity to hone their leadership skills and often out of work in their
civilian professions, much like the enrollees in the camps they came to
lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the odd difficulty or
adversity in the local camps all the way up to the Corps level, the record of
the Army and the War Department in connection with the CCC is unmatched in our
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The largest peacetime
mobilization, the sustained deployment and provisioning of a peacetime
conservation Army over nearly a decade and tangible improvements in military
readiness are the legacy of the Army’s association with the Civilian
Conservation Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Military officers,
active duty and reservists, gained valuable experience leading company-sized
units, learned to manage and account for equipment, experienced the sad duty of
dealing with sick, injured and dead enrollees and perhaps just as importantly,
served as positive models for millions of men who became veterans in their own
right because of the U.S. entry into World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While there are no hard and fast figures to
show how many CCC enrollees went on to serve in the military, one recent
history claims the number may be as high as 90 percent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if one estimates the number of enrollees
who entered the military at a more conservative 50 percent, it still must be
acknowledged that the other 50 percent likely entered the home front workforce
where they put their newly learned job skills to very good use in support of
the war effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event, the
significance of the CCC is unquestionable and the role of the U.S. Army in the
success of the CCC is equally undeniable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Little wonder then that no less a figure than General George C.
Marshall, himself a CCC district commander, a World War II leader, Secretary of
State and Nobel Prize recipient said of the Civilian Conservation Corps:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I found the CCC the most instructive service
I have ever had and the most interesting.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-4GC6ZZSzSBgz1OqIvnYJZkJuKfgOjBfQuCpO0__FAO8v_YcqH1KYsJYPvUX5FxGUqCsSWvVdmB92Eq0V1J0XX3ltlJIHPV_9pu8l4ZDq0O-sT8yzvHvzVGzCdMlpn1bQk6UvJhYNhix/s1600/blog+Officers+at+a+CCC+Camp+in+Wisconsin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-4GC6ZZSzSBgz1OqIvnYJZkJuKfgOjBfQuCpO0__FAO8v_YcqH1KYsJYPvUX5FxGUqCsSWvVdmB92Eq0V1J0XX3ltlJIHPV_9pu8l4ZDq0O-sT8yzvHvzVGzCdMlpn1bQk6UvJhYNhix/s400/blog+Officers+at+a+CCC+Camp+in+Wisconsin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Military staff at a CCC camp in Wisconsin.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtNYhwFiT0ZrjDNKDyG9VW931zJ-HbVfCENx3JhKb22Vgj5Cf4DUZroLEEg80B-sopQMDctaFw1kd4K2EOLv0Bfnk4Kqwd6286UwooDRyhbCJ_jYr4CxEsX-KNYJoxUaIXmrqOHfa2trYS/s1600/blog+Phoenix+District+Staff+1936001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtNYhwFiT0ZrjDNKDyG9VW931zJ-HbVfCENx3JhKb22Vgj5Cf4DUZroLEEg80B-sopQMDctaFw1kd4K2EOLv0Bfnk4Kqwd6286UwooDRyhbCJ_jYr4CxEsX-KNYJoxUaIXmrqOHfa2trYS/s400/blog+Phoenix+District+Staff+1936001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phoenix CCC District staff, 1936.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
For Further Reading<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Captain “X”, “A
Civilian Army in the Woods,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harper’s
Monthly Magazine</i>, March 1934, 487-497.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Coffman, Edward M.,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Regulars:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The American Army 1898-1941</i> (Cambridge,
MA:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Guthrie, John D.,
“The Civilian Conservation Corps,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Military Engineer</i>, Jan-Feb, 1934, Vol. XXVI No. 145, 15-19.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Johnson, Charles
W., “The Army and the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-42,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prologue: The Journal of the National
Archives</i>, Fall 1972, 138-156.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Maher, Neil M., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature’s New Deal</i> (New York:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oxford University Press, 2008).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Major, Duncan K.,
“Mobilizing the Conservation Corps:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Army
Does a Gigantic Job in Record Time,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Army
Ordnance</i>, July-Aug, 1933, Vol. XIV No.79, 33-38.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Mays-Smith, Kathy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gold Medal CCC Company 1538</i> (Paducah,
KY, Turner Publishing Company, 2001).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
McKoy, Kathleen L.,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultures at a Crossroads:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An Administrative History of Pipe Springs
National Monument </i>(Denver, CO:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U.S.
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 2000).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pasquill, Robert, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933-1942:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Great and Lasting Good</i> (Tuscaloosa,
AL:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of Alabama Press, 2008).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Salmond, John A., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Civilian Conservation Corps,
1933-1942:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A New Deal Case Study</i>
(Durham, NC:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duke University Press,
1967).<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0.5in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Whittlesey, Lee H.,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death in Yellowstone:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First
National Park</i> (Lanham, MD:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roberts
Rinehart Publishers, 1995). <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Images from the
author’s collection.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">© Michael I.
Smith, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</span> </o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-34740366643225928022013-07-08T20:42:00.000-07:002013-08-17T13:47:12.902-07:00After the Sacrifice: A Grim and Dismal Business<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHS2z77-vNzZ8a95Pbw9iOq-FzFfjWVtWlNnwi8y_7e2L8wGGkqvNtUcOqUsLIdwV2PhNH_tHSyTr0bkbYzG4SCtwmJVo1ZIR3s3lDbpsud7SwbdsdQUMpsaxY4HiVWAK05C88cdPfCsTh/s1600/Post+Blog+Post+Header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHS2z77-vNzZ8a95Pbw9iOq-FzFfjWVtWlNnwi8y_7e2L8wGGkqvNtUcOqUsLIdwV2PhNH_tHSyTr0bkbYzG4SCtwmJVo1ZIR3s3lDbpsud7SwbdsdQUMpsaxY4HiVWAK05C88cdPfCsTh/s400/Post+Blog+Post+Header.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While we might argue whether grief
comes before numbness or vice versa, I’m inclined to think that inevitably
grief or numbness will be replaced by collective amnesia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consequently, I feel compelled to put down some
thoughts in the wake of the Yarnell Hill tragedy and, perhaps not surprisingly,
the touchstone for me is a similar tragedy that occurred three quarters of a
century ago in a Wyoming forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More to
the point, I’m thinking of events that took place in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aftermath</i> of that Wyoming tragedy and how they square with the
events taking place in Arizona in the blazing, unforgiving summer of 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of grief and numbness and before
amnesia, there is a grim and dismal business that seems always to require
attending to in sad situations such as this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A photograph of 19 flag-draped body
bags lying in the burn area emerged in the days immediately following the
Yarnell Hill tragedy and in short order there has been debate regarding whether
such an image is appropriate and whether it might be too intrusive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I rarely editorialize here, I will say
in this case, that the sad image of 19 flag-draped forms is a fitting eulogy to
young men who gave up their very existence in the fight against wildland
fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only wish things had been the
same 75 years ago when flames overtook the CCC crews at Blackwater; however in
their case, there were no flags, only canvas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve chosen not to post the final
image of the Yarnell Hill 19 lying near where they likely fell but anyone with
an ounce of internet savvy will be able to find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, I am posting a picture
from the 1937 Blackwater Creek tragedy with the hope that it will generate some
thought regarding how much things have changed in 75 years of forestry,
firefighting and humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUPY9mzwqwsbYnUpDAnIxkFTL1bIACdrYAG9_sdtqmi5wigpk0qxCv3uFbH5WwxcsMFBft6fpwzSo7dovVy8iQpa9nqSyLK7u9Zjx1zXrIsfJBxBPF7jY39qeB3Wfowy-n0VbMYKEB98P/s1600/Post+Blackwater+Photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUPY9mzwqwsbYnUpDAnIxkFTL1bIACdrYAG9_sdtqmi5wigpk0qxCv3uFbH5WwxcsMFBft6fpwzSo7dovVy8iQpa9nqSyLK7u9Zjx1zXrIsfJBxBPF7jY39qeB3Wfowy-n0VbMYKEB98P/s400/Post+Blackwater+Photo+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the hours immediately after the 1937
Blackwater blow up and its tragic consequences, fire suppression work all but
ceased as crews fanned out into the burn to search for victims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the dead were discovered in the
process of extricating another group – the living, the dead and dying – who had
been trapped by the blow up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With help
from rescue parties, the scarred and fatigued survivors carried the dead and
dying down to the lower fire camps where they were tended to before being transported
to hospitals in Cody, Wyoming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It strikes me that retrieval of the
dead in cases like the Yarnell Hill Fire, as with other recent tragedies that
have preceded it, must be undertaken as a mix of requiem and a search for
investigative clarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are honors
to be rendered but also questions to be answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The impulse to mourn will be interrupted, abruptly
and perhaps grudgingly, by the desire to find answers, to learn lessons and
perhaps even assess blame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not get
the impression that such was the case 75 years ago on the fire scarred
hillsides of a forest near Yellowstone National Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The body of Ranger Al Clayton and the six men
who died with him were removed in the late morning and early afternoon of
August 22, 1937 and a local newspaper reporter wrote of the scene:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seven pack-horses, each with angular forms
wrapped in canvas and lashed to the saddles, filed slowly out of the wooded
ravine and stopped at the cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over a
hundred wide-eyed, ashen-gray youngsters, just ready to go to the fire line,
pushed forward, drawn by a chilling magnetism to see what their former comrades
looked like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">No flag-draped body bags, no honor
guard processions, just canvas wrapped parcels somewhat ghoulishly exhibited
for all to see in a grim processional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the midst of the death and fear – in spite of the death and fear - fresh
CCC crews continued to arrive until at one point more than 500 men were
fighting the Blackwater Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By noon on
Tuesday, August 24th the fire was listed as officially under control and on the
following day the Forest Service supervisors began to release CCC crews to
return to their camps and their regular duties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, on August 31st, ten days after the fatal blow up and almost two
weeks after lightening started a seemingly inconsequential blaze, the last of
the firefighting crews were disbanded, having constructed more than eleven
miles of fire line in the process of extinguishing the Blackwater Fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviX0RbMlV8z2u1Ef2dlYOhxh0xS_1RNZqGvBH4YsnFJ9HmnLq97Ehvd4RI52Q47mw9HmNg_anrAb2jQgw5D7aCBhe6buM_rhULdUg0tJKbdMyX2victLXsxX79i5McyAcgEZtJQrhN6sM/s1600/Post+Blackwater+Prosessional.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviX0RbMlV8z2u1Ef2dlYOhxh0xS_1RNZqGvBH4YsnFJ9HmnLq97Ehvd4RI52Q47mw9HmNg_anrAb2jQgw5D7aCBhe6buM_rhULdUg0tJKbdMyX2victLXsxX79i5McyAcgEZtJQrhN6sM/s400/Post+Blackwater+Prosessional.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photos of the recovery of the
Blackwater victims appeared in the August 1941 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sports Afield</i> and perhaps elsewhere and I am unaware of any
backlash at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the
passage of four years’ time helped dull the impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the amnesia had already begun to set
in by that point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the growing
global carnage diminished Blackwater’s fiery cataclysm down to seemingly
nothing by comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps people
simply had thicker skins 75 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have argued that the dead of
Blackwater have not received the same sort of recognition as their firefighting
brethren who have perished on the fire lines in recent memory, but one thing
seems constant over the decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Praised
or unsung, the heroes have done their work and perished in the doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dismal grim business remains for us, the
living, to undertake and sadly that business won’t be quick or clean.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_D57tcBk8zfBVw4Hmj2waEVEHjVnyCnx1xkUnWNT8Bwk3Ny8omzCAIVq0tOrKn5DhUNLZmhxMcb0cmBgheW-5U-v_nDGwr5eON-yBl3lbx7kOKTiHhnMJXDdJ6osz274yx9dK7x4H1IN/s1600/Post+Blackwater+Trailhead+Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_D57tcBk8zfBVw4Hmj2waEVEHjVnyCnx1xkUnWNT8Bwk3Ny8omzCAIVq0tOrKn5DhUNLZmhxMcb0cmBgheW-5U-v_nDGwr5eON-yBl3lbx7kOKTiHhnMJXDdJ6osz274yx9dK7x4H1IN/s400/Post+Blackwater+Trailhead+Detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While there appears to have been no backlash following the publication of the photos of<br />
the removal of those killed in the Blackwater blow up, one gets the impression from the<br />
expressions on the faces of the men in this image that they were uneasy knowing that the<br />
grim scene was being photographed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You can read an earlier, more detailed post about the Blackwater
tragedy </span><a href="http://www.forestarmy.blogspot.com/2007/08/death-on-fire-line-blackwater-fire-of.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">here.</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">©Michael I. Smith, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-92183627258927696222012-12-24T12:31:00.000-08:002012-12-24T12:31:07.719-08:00A Salute to NACCCA/CCC Legacy Chapter 44
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9OuIgNEX4zrppaklyPWdGwsWt-3yDcrl9SnQh81vfMWgCJqCKM9klexiRujY9so_iKZT0yg_TlfFk0-r-DVlRgW49KN-u_gkxfw7sLhmA6MdFl4lW86NInwxFVM8Pb_NM664YtJAmG5F/s1600/CCC+Guys+in+Payson001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9OuIgNEX4zrppaklyPWdGwsWt-3yDcrl9SnQh81vfMWgCJqCKM9klexiRujY9so_iKZT0yg_TlfFk0-r-DVlRgW49KN-u_gkxfw7sLhmA6MdFl4lW86NInwxFVM8Pb_NM664YtJAmG5F/s200/CCC+Guys+in+Payson001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CCC veterans gathered for an <br />
event in Paysonm, AZ. (L-R): <br />
James Grose, Arquimedes Fraijo, Jack<br />
Duncan, Owen Carolan, John<br />
McLeod (rear), Bill Millard<br />
Fred Garcia and Mackie Clark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chapter 44 of the National
Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni (NACCCA) was organized in
1981 and since that time has been in continuous operation under the guidance of
ten different presidents and a host of able officers including <strong>Audrey Clark</strong> who
has served as our valued Chapter Secretary for many years, <strong>Fred Garcia</strong>, our
Chapter Treasurer who has put in more time as a Chapter officer than anyone
else, and <strong>Jack Duncan</strong>, our long-serving and most recent Chapter Vice-President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">For those not inclined to do
the math, that’s 31 years of effort, working to preserve and share the history
of the Civilian Conservation Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
that time, the Chapter has placed plaques and statues from one end of Arizona
to the other; plaques in places like Grand Canyon National Park, the Arizona
state capitol in Phoenix, Colossal Cave and Chiricahua National Monument and
statues at Colossal Cave Mountain Park near Tucson and Phoenix South Mountain
Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We created a CCC museum exhibit at
South Mountain Park and hosted a traveling exhibit which we staffed at history
events at South Mountain Park, Pueblo Grand Museum, the Arizona Historical
Society Museum in Phoenix, in Payson, Arizona and elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeMmNKqEjIDOfc8mf2aVKdu4WWNkfpsEi-Ig_Wio96qug5TzGd5z_aRA4S03uZ8HxKncWvkYnmC3x5j60k3Dct8egkBA_4BF9YMe-DLNPRLUi83t4klk0uBSL33RU4QX06YUpN5gc_Ii8/s1600/Gerald+Johnson001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeMmNKqEjIDOfc8mf2aVKdu4WWNkfpsEi-Ig_Wio96qug5TzGd5z_aRA4S03uZ8HxKncWvkYnmC3x5j60k3Dct8egkBA_4BF9YMe-DLNPRLUi83t4klk0uBSL33RU4QX06YUpN5gc_Ii8/s200/Gerald+Johnson001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gerald Johnson, CCC and USMC Veteran<br />
and Arizona CCC statue donor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Certainly the crowning
achievements in the Chapter’s resume must be the purchase and placement of two
CCC worker statues in Arizona.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The initial
task of raising funds for an Arizona CCC statue was undertaken as something of
a shoestring effort but labored along for more than a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just when it appeared that the fundraising
effort would stumble into failure, CCC alumnus <strong>Gerald Johnson</strong> of Bisbee,
Arizona stepped forward to donate sufficient funds to acquire Arizona’s first
CCC statue, which was placed at the Colossal Cave visitor center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vFJR4RrOX1TJBvpW-1adV8ELiwJBKSAMPhxgZK-HYnoJYN_D5pkPonHg3auFOY0DHR1WsbwVfRMmj4Mx17nxZZPPIrusY4oAUuH9GZ2NAJTm_J8GyFBh_Tew9F_2x_2efpSpyn2NUtdW/s1600/Jack+and+S+Mtn+Park+Statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vFJR4RrOX1TJBvpW-1adV8ELiwJBKSAMPhxgZK-HYnoJYN_D5pkPonHg3auFOY0DHR1WsbwVfRMmj4Mx17nxZZPPIrusY4oAUuH9GZ2NAJTm_J8GyFBh_Tew9F_2x_2efpSpyn2NUtdW/s200/Jack+and+S+Mtn+Park+Statue.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack Duncan, CCC Veteran and<br />
and Arizona CCC statue donor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">We might have stood content
to have helped get Arizona a single CCC worker statue but in typical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we can do it</i> fashion, another CCC
veteran stepped forward to offer his help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><strong>Jack Duncan</strong>, who worked in the CCC in Colorado and who has served so
well as Chapter 44 Vice President put up the money to buy a second CCC worker
statue outright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arizona’s second CCC
worker statue was erected at Phoenix South Mountain Park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;">In hindsight, it seems clear
that Arizona would not have even one CCC worker statue were it not for the
generosity of former enrollees Gerald Johnson and Jack Duncan, who provided
sufficient funds to make the purchase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additional
funds raised by Chapter 44 helped with incidentals associated with placement of
the statues and remaining monies have been used to purchase the Happy Days
newspapers and Arizona camp newspapers on microfiche for the Arizona State Archives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The singular generosity of Gerald and Jack
made it possible for the Chapter to do so much more in these last few years
that would otherwise have been possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKTD-30FjDE-upDwnod3z9jmGD1zg22pSBQgZbUZ9mXwDl3relbLdQOCwfxRR0wfSKDujPxbT9WrQQciijQJ8EpPM_YLUe6exREVcFh9jDZPbA1iTyJZGDwU5Py6OxN7xd56L-ka4GT6O/s1600/Chiricahua+NM+Plaque.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKTD-30FjDE-upDwnod3z9jmGD1zg22pSBQgZbUZ9mXwDl3relbLdQOCwfxRR0wfSKDujPxbT9WrQQciijQJ8EpPM_YLUe6exREVcFh9jDZPbA1iTyJZGDwU5Py6OxN7xd56L-ka4GT6O/s200/Chiricahua+NM+Plaque.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CCC Plaque at Chiricahua NM<br />
in Southeastern Arizona</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Among the Chapter’s other
significant accomplishments:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
commissioned a portable exhibit case, which we then filled with CCC artifacts
and donated to the National Park Service in Flagstaff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chapter 44 hosted the 2004 NACCCA reunion and
sponsored a writing competition to mark the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the
CCC in 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We donated funds to help
restore a scale model of the battleship USS Arizona.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2010 we donated the entire available
editions of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Happy Days</i> newspaper on
microfilm to the Arizona State Archives and we have recently acquired all the
available editions of Arizona CCC camp newspapers to donate to the State
Archives in honor of the CCC’s 80<sup>th</sup> anniversary early next
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way we also helped and
inspired historians and writers including <strong>Robert Moore</strong>, <strong>Jane Jackson</strong> and <strong>Robert
Audretsch</strong>, who sought us out in their efforts to document the history of the
CCC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineEslVzSEB0E-UMC6JIJcBtG8lJjnJ71ocpC7AJF9GnuqhGJPHThHJk2OQh4l4VmZ0HPp4LEOUoxMuv3hMi-r-wu7p-1FlK1MHXjtLfbqECUIORcFQR0NI21gA0C3gMGSEteQLsTdqPVN/s1600/Col+Cave+Statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineEslVzSEB0E-UMC6JIJcBtG8lJjnJ71ocpC7AJF9GnuqhGJPHThHJk2OQh4l4VmZ0HPp4LEOUoxMuv3hMi-r-wu7p-1FlK1MHXjtLfbqECUIORcFQR0NI21gA0C3gMGSEteQLsTdqPVN/s320/Col+Cave+Statue.jpg" width="175" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Nobody – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nobody</i> – can honestly claim to have done more to promote the
history of the CCC in Arizona than the members of Chapter 44 over the past
three decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should all be proud
of the effort because it was done through your work, your time and with
donations large and small to the chapter treasury, even in the form of
purchasing raffle tickets at our monthly meetings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Our once robust little
organization is winding down its operations even as we celebrate the 80<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the CCC we all love so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the end of 2013 we will cease operation and halt our quarterly
meeting schedule but one day, I hope that scholars and historians will take a
moment to note the largely anonymous efforts undertaken by Chapter 44 under the
NACCCA banner, the CCC Legacy banner and finally as an independent social
organization focused on keeping the story of the CCC alive. In the meantime,
each of you should take pride in what you have accomplished as members of
Chapter 44 and know that your efforts will help insure that people remember the
important work of the CCC in Arizona and nationwide.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFz08xKqToazIHhAAdaCA59gIuFyX60_lFAkbWZCg1nzRaPtD3OUsdVtQigzl4h6TCWnNao7BqRTQqpesWUE8WpsCvuIHlt1Iw8WGopogBKxudKQmMhrIB7tVK3WqvWIciST7nM96-cDcc/s1600/S+Mtn+Plaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFz08xKqToazIHhAAdaCA59gIuFyX60_lFAkbWZCg1nzRaPtD3OUsdVtQigzl4h6TCWnNao7BqRTQqpesWUE8WpsCvuIHlt1Iw8WGopogBKxudKQmMhrIB7tVK3WqvWIciST7nM96-cDcc/s320/S+Mtn+Plaque.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-19074294763418578702012-01-16T05:54:00.000-08:002012-01-16T05:57:10.435-08:00A small mystery solved.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXZasEOyzAvpU2MaeeKKtWGOwcLh-HdedI9f5EhBlSgIt-DqUjr6ZOyRVWpncu7HbwJSAjl5ZPvyIUbZOjphYEM0Hp9xr6KDghOXl5su-7X0vlXSOLjakhDXBZ_4t3lLDalCSZHtSJH1y/s1600/GC+Pole+installation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 125px;"><img border="0" height="200" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXZasEOyzAvpU2MaeeKKtWGOwcLh-HdedI9f5EhBlSgIt-DqUjr6ZOyRVWpncu7HbwJSAjl5ZPvyIUbZOjphYEM0Hp9xr6KDghOXl5su-7X0vlXSOLjakhDXBZ_4t3lLDalCSZHtSJH1y/s200/GC+Pole+installation.JPG" width="143" /></a></div>
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In my last post at the <a href="http://cccresources.blogspot.com/2011/12/license-and-registration-please.html">Civilian Conservation Corps Resource Page</a>, I spoke of tying up loose ends and how those loose ends don’t always bind up as nicely as we might like. In that particular case, the loose ends didn’t quite come together but it was an exciting moment or two as I sought to identify where a particular photograph might have come from.</div>
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</div>
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As it turns out, there’s a loose end here at Forest Army and as luck would have it, the ends came together much more neatly this time around. In a post I made back in late 2010 I editorialized regarding the standardization and regimentation that were such an important part of the CCC’s success (you can see that post <a href="http://forestarmy.blogspot.com/2010/09/regimentation-standardization.html">here</a>.)</div>
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At that time, I was mystified by the purpose of a particular pole or post installation that I’ve encountered both in photographs and in the field. The pole looked like this in a photograph that I obtained from the National Association of CCC Alumni (NACCCA) back in the early 1990s.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFZ9-fE429BvKzL03wnCYMFJpohyFIvOXk5JAJgml4z2NuM-6EzE2sZlYlIkTAJlMB0TwMyGekzujyNr7-otxiq7torUUVHhnlk9zQZRDk0WEUWijXPJidCfffT1bg4_bS2IYWX38UHUO/s1600/Walnut+Creek+Pole+2+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFZ9-fE429BvKzL03wnCYMFJpohyFIvOXk5JAJgml4z2NuM-6EzE2sZlYlIkTAJlMB0TwMyGekzujyNr7-otxiq7torUUVHhnlk9zQZRDk0WEUWijXPJidCfffT1bg4_bS2IYWX38UHUO/s200/Walnut+Creek+Pole+2+-+Copy.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
I found a surprisingly similar pole installation at the site of a former CCC camp in Yavapai County, Arizona and have ruminated on its purpose ever since. It seems clear that a standard set of plans guided the construction and installation of poles like these; how else do you explain the striking similarity between two examples when one example is at Grand Canyon National Park and the other in a U.S. Forest Service CCC camp near Prescott, Arizona? But what were these posts or poles used for?</div>
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<br /></div>
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At the time, I wrote, “I’ve no idea what the purpose of the twin pole arrangement is; perhaps it was part of a gate, or perhaps it was one in a series of telephone or telegraph poles strung through the juniper…one wonders why the photographer even bothered with snapping the picture at all.”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AEau16VrvFGX8Mm1vaiPQIAzC-fWvyH0QsBd2lzn0QpApx5MKbUcmgMmvrk-9l7OAYeQqC8UsXVaHX7kf3w9WGfukYbcHOFDozTrkot-io8g-2YtmlsSblaETcnukP9cfvyDlBSlqssl/s1600/Post+installation+detail+from+GC+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AEau16VrvFGX8Mm1vaiPQIAzC-fWvyH0QsBd2lzn0QpApx5MKbUcmgMmvrk-9l7OAYeQqC8UsXVaHX7kf3w9WGfukYbcHOFDozTrkot-io8g-2YtmlsSblaETcnukP9cfvyDlBSlqssl/s200/Post+installation+detail+from+GC+-+Copy.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
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Well, we’ve tied the loose ends together this time, thanks to some fortuitous help from a prolific local CCC researcher. About a week ago I received an email from Robert “Ranger Bob” Audretsch, who’d just wrapped up some research at the Grand Canyon museum. He attached one photo as representative of about “60 great photos” that he’d found for a project he’s working on. I don’t have the faintest clue why Bob picked the particular photo that he attached to his email but the second I opened it up, I knew that all the uncertainty surrounding the CCC mystery poles at Grand Canyon and Walnut Creek was cleared up. Sometimes the loose ends tie themselves up without much help.</div>
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
The picture Ranger Bob emailed me shows three CCC boys working on a string of telephone or telegraph poles, with two guys cinching up the posts while a third guy strings the wire atop the pole. I’m wondering if it was safe for one enrollee to be climbing atop the pole before it was fully wired into place, but I suppose that was a matter for the project foreman to worry about. At any rate, they all appear to be working really hard; the camera captures them in something of a blur. There is no doubt that this photo depicts the same project that is depicted in the rather innocuous photo that I received from the NACCCA collection so many years ago and I’m pleased and proud to post them side by side here, perhaps for the first time ever. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VVb6vJe8Ok7JUzJKBgUQWiiAc9dkdm45NufpZ7K5EbHzxGJQpvnamxL7Z8dIxiaRIMU1RuAFreRnbfy3PGMqgJ1j9lJ5BvPvETDif9Cf1mJyjtylGfRzBAxNaO2DpSFGo3un-dCOhBPm/s1600/GC+Posts+Composite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VVb6vJe8Ok7JUzJKBgUQWiiAc9dkdm45NufpZ7K5EbHzxGJQpvnamxL7Z8dIxiaRIMU1RuAFreRnbfy3PGMqgJ1j9lJ5BvPvETDif9Cf1mJyjtylGfRzBAxNaO2DpSFGo3un-dCOhBPm/s320/GC+Posts+Composite.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Armed with the Grand Canyon telephone pole photo from Ranger Bob, I can now easily conclude that the similar pole installation I saw still standing at the former site of the Walnut Creek CCC camp was or a telephone or other type of wire strung to or through the camp. Who can guess what sorts of communications passed that way while the camp was in operation; we’ll never know, but we at least know why those poles were placed in the ground.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qq1ti5iXD8wb-KtKxt6oeLafQwIzBfPNhoJ0dWA7OWo48yf1GVJBD-vdRhhU-VhQEwQHavBelh2HbLnHOnnxKSX6TBUGaYlfRYhAu0UuEF_YVHnYZ1gjLzd04nFcZIhRuDO-b4sXSHiD/s1600/Post+installation++full+view+reduced+to+25+percent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qq1ti5iXD8wb-KtKxt6oeLafQwIzBfPNhoJ0dWA7OWo48yf1GVJBD-vdRhhU-VhQEwQHavBelh2HbLnHOnnxKSX6TBUGaYlfRYhAu0UuEF_YVHnYZ1gjLzd04nFcZIhRuDO-b4sXSHiD/s320/Post+installation++full+view+reduced+to+25+percent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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You can find more information about Ranger Bob Audretsch, his CCC research, and his book at his website <a href="http://www.cccbooks.org/">CCC Books</a>. Pay him a visit, look around, buy a book!</div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-62752194755532747462011-12-10T19:33:00.001-08:002011-12-10T19:52:59.699-08:00Holidays in the CCC<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJn_yHcZM04kiafIanD_29DDB7PtvKBSuj-9UbSGOeV0HlWfckrnNihEeiCNk_Uc8QDbnkUcSS6Ncwg7lE6mhkAiuDhoGiXc9zVsje7d5SOwip5mITsIrHTH4UjDTwehbZ1P2X-JpYqemA/s1600/Image7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJn_yHcZM04kiafIanD_29DDB7PtvKBSuj-9UbSGOeV0HlWfckrnNihEeiCNk_Uc8QDbnkUcSS6Ncwg7lE6mhkAiuDhoGiXc9zVsje7d5SOwip5mITsIrHTH4UjDTwehbZ1P2X-JpYqemA/s320/Image7.JPG" width="236" /></a>Imagine feeling lonely and happy at the same time. That must be the feeling that many CCC enrollees had when special days like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s rolled around each year. Surely the feeling must be akin to the feelings a young soldier has, living in a barracks far from home during the holidays: a touch of warmth from the season, tempered by a twinge of loneliness and homesickness, charged with a bit of excitement over the thought of having a day off and a grand meal in the mess hall. Some of the lucky boys have gone home for Christmas so the camp is somewhat deserted and perhaps covered in a blanket of snow. The camp commander seems a bit more cordial than usual, stopping in each barracks to chat with the enrollees after the crews returned from the work site. A group of enrollees are in the mess hall helping the kitchen crew decorate for the big dinner and as darkness settles on the forest camp, they can be seen through the windows of the mess hall stringing crepe paper. Perhaps being stuck in camp won’t be so bad after all.</div>
<br />
<br />
Christmas 1933 marked the first celebration of the holiday in the life of the CCC, and nationwide it was a special event marked by extraordinary efforts to bolster the morale of enrollees in camps from one end of the country to the other. In his book, <em>The Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933-1942</em> by Robert Pasquill, Jr. noted the following: <br />
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<em>On December 22, 1933, the Gadsden Times announced that the 315,000 CCC men across the nation would be having a real Christmas. Camps were decorating trees. A special radio program was to be broadcast by the National Broadcast Company with messages by Director Fechner and Secretary of Agriculture Wallace. The railroads were offering special rates to enrollees. Some 445,000 were to be served for Christmas dinners.</em></div>
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No doubt that first CCC Christmas dinner in 1933 was a far more promising affair for many enrollees and their families than had been the Christmas of 1932, when there was no New Deal and no Civilian Conservation Corps. <br />
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The literature on the CCC is full of accounts of how the holidays were celebrated in the camps, which were really like small communities. Enrollees could save up leave during their enrollment and, when Christmas and New Year rolled around, the lucky ones would have an opportunity to return home for the holidays.</div>
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In <em>Coming of Age in the Great Depression: The Civilian Conservation Corps Experience in New Mexico, 1933-1942</em>, Richard Melzer noted:<br />
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<em>Two of the biggest holidays of the year, Christmas and New Year’s, left many camps largely deserted. Fifty percent of the enrollees at SCS-4-N at El Rito were granted five-day leaves to go home for Christmas in1936, while the remaining fifty percent took their five-day leaves during the New Year’s holiday. Aware that a large percentage of all desertions occurred following major holidays, prudent officers took this opportunity to remind enrollees of the dire consequences of going AWOL. Although sometimes late, most enrollees returned to camp out of a personal sense of duty as well as a sincere desire to continue helping the loved ones they had just visited back home.</em></div>
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Naturally, not every enrollee was able to return home; some remained in camp at Christmastime and perhaps over New Years. Sympathetic commanders and technical staff usually tried to make the time as pleasant as possible.</div>
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The December 1936 issue of the North Woodstock, N.H. camp newspaper,<em> The Pioneer</em>, offered this glimpse of life in the camps over the holidays: <br />
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<em>Lt. White, in a very jovial mood, made an impromptu speech in which he said in effect that the camp was ours for the day and that he wanted us to act as though we were at home with our families. The talk was received with enthusiasm by the men and they proceed to carry the lieutenant’s suggestion into effect, seldom have we heard so much noise everybody had a great deal of fun. We congratulate the lieutenant, the mess steward and the kitchen staff, they did a fine job.</em></div>
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(Quoted in Builder of Men: Life in the C.C.C. Camps of New Hampshire by David d. Draves.)<br />
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Borrowing from a practice started by U.S. soldiers in France during World War I, enrollees in some CCC camps would “adopt” children from the local community to help insure they had at least a small gift for Christmas, sometimes hosting parties at the camp with an appearance by Santa Claus himself. Writing in the Fall 2001 edition of The Historian, Robert A. Waller refers to one such CCC company:</div>
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<em>South Carolina veterans camp Co. 2414 at Sumter (S.C.) enjoyed the most publicity in Happy Days when their 1934 Christmas party for the community children enjoyed pictorial coverage.</em><br />
<em>The social activities of the young men during their off-hours on weekends consumed much newsprint in Happy Days. The CCC boys created their own social life, often in connection with nearby communities during holidays or on the anniversary of the founding of the “Cees.” The commander of Co. 4486 at Liberty (S.C.) organized a Christmas dinner dance with music provided by the Jungaleers of Clemson College.</em><br />
(From Happy Days and the Civilian Conservation Corps in South Carolina, 1933-1942 by Robert A. Waller, published in <em>The Historian</em> Vol. 64, No. 1, Fall 2001.)<br />
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In the December 1937 issue of The Score of 2704 at Camp SCS-14, Chatfield, Minnesota, the editors wrote of their regret at the impending disbandment of the Company, but looked forward to their final Christmas celebration together. <br />
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<em><strong>Dinner – Smoker Party on Program. Big Doin’s Planned</strong>. Here is the real news – before this company becomes history, there is going to be a great “going’s on.” As we go to press the date for the big event has not been decided, but we believe it will be next Friday nite.</em><em><br /></em></div>
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<em>There will be an extra special dinner in the mess hall coming soon. From what we hear it is going to be a second Thanksgiving feast.</em></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9nbR5Uf1C6GuZhBjxd_eeyQa43nyXTdvvYADeC7SiE8MZ1RYO5afumTRclrZ01yx7loyfCH9oASzeNnXh_Igb3xw1o7hfS3LqvBletE2hHfxQlJqZA9vqCyAXUqmWf0U4PnkJiQ0rLaFz/s1600/CCC+Chow+Time+1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9nbR5Uf1C6GuZhBjxd_eeyQa43nyXTdvvYADeC7SiE8MZ1RYO5afumTRclrZ01yx7loyfCH9oASzeNnXh_Igb3xw1o7hfS3LqvBletE2hHfxQlJqZA9vqCyAXUqmWf0U4PnkJiQ0rLaFz/s200/CCC+Chow+Time+1937.jpg" width="200" /></a><em>But the real fun will be when the recreation hall is turned into a Monte Carlo. Each man will be handed a roll of five hundred dollars. What will he be able to do with his money?? There will be raffle wheels, bingo games and many ways for the men to spend and keep spending. The canteen will be open for business as usual, if there is any business, but with five hundred iron men one should buy something. Of course prices will be a little high. Candy and pop will sell for one hundred bucks at the bar. Cigarettes will go for the paltry sum of three hundred dollars. Of course the money will all be phoney and it will have to be used on our Monte Carlo nite. Is such a party fun?? Just read the story of a party like this one held by the men in this company when it was located up north. </em></div>
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It’s difficult to imagine celebrating a Christmas or New Year holiday in the midst of the Great Depression. It’s even more difficult to imagine facing the holidays in a CCC camp far from home with five dollars or less in your pocket and not much more than the prospect of a big dinner in the mess hall to keep your spirits buoyed up, but that’s what happened in hundreds of thousands of cases at thousands of camps scattered across the United States between 1933 and 1942. Who could know that with the advent of war, those bittersweet holidays in the CCC would be looked back upon with fondness by the grown men who left the CCC to fight across the world from 1942 to 1945?</div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-73598074442909271602011-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:002011-02-23T20:14:22.413-08:00Blacks in the CCC:<strong><em>A Forest Army Post in Honor of Black History Month</em></strong><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKADXLS2VgkkckX8OaPo63yb9Q7dA-8CxizTMpvpTf-jejsI9yyxudERo_EmiW4Eq_Eigk6Ld1mWabXo0UdW3Bq3vMPFLGG7QIBSdgWbPFGYVll7pDnbMKxBE-gwUSt3JNO_RUTOinv_r/s1600/1935+District+E+annual+Co+3489+Crosby+MS001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577103298958317378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKADXLS2VgkkckX8OaPo63yb9Q7dA-8CxizTMpvpTf-jejsI9yyxudERo_EmiW4Eq_Eigk6Ld1mWabXo0UdW3Bq3vMPFLGG7QIBSdgWbPFGYVll7pDnbMKxBE-gwUSt3JNO_RUTOinv_r/s320/1935+District+E+annual+Co+3489+Crosby+MS001.jpg" border="0" /></a>If the Civilian Conservation Corps had one failing, it would have to be in the area of racial integration and equality. Although the legislation that created the CCC included language expressly forbidding discrimination on the basis of race, problems cropped up almost immediately during the initial selection process in the individual states and continued throughout the life of the program. Looking back it seems clear that there was blame to go around; President Roosevelt was reluctant to use the New Deal as a platform to promote the sort of strong social agenda represented by integration, CCC Director Robert Fechner, as a southerner, was pre-disposed to notions favoring Jim Crow, some military officers were opposed to integration if not opposed to black enrollment altogether and finally, nationwide, communities large and small came out in opposition to the establishment of all-black CCC camps. And yet looking back there are exceptions to these notions and also reasons to be glad for the opportunity the CCC provided to young black men at perhaps our nation’s bleakest time and to view that opportunity for what it was: a small step toward future successes.<br /><br />For excellent accounts of the initial problems and indeed a valuable discussion of the problem of racism in the CCC throughout its lifespan, two books immediately come to mind: John Salmond’s groundbreaking work from the 1960s, <em>The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942: A New Deal Case Study</em> and Joseph Speakman’s more recent book <strong>At Work in Penn’s Woods: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania</strong>. Both books devote an entire chapter to the issue of race and racism in the CCC; Salmond in a chapter titled “The Selection of Negroes, 1933-1937,” and Speakman in a chapter titled “African-Americans in Penn’s Woods. (A copy of Salmond’s important work is now available online and can be viewed <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/ccc/salmond/index.htm">here.</a> For an earlier Forest Army review of <em>At Work in Penn’s Woods</em> click <a href="http://forestarmy.blogspot.com/2008/04/joseph-speakmans-balanced-appraisal-of.html">here.</a>)<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577096654464583026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 135px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnKM_ATgv9KpiSAA88uZdgQp1n864EBjnjpzdou4wtK6jVeK-dwVGZGqIzDT6sd4Pg1YK5-sQy4CZMzDDP5W1C6HYIv6Zyi5ArUHmQVGOQUaifmRGitrkRJ2DHDTzY2V4O_opc86Ez_it/s400/Company+3498+Colored+Barksdale+Field+LA+1935001.jpg" border="0" /> Speakman describes the life of black CCC enrollees as an existence in a parallel universe, in an organization similar to the CCC but called the “Colored Civilian Conservation Corps” – the CCCC. Speakman notes that approximately 250,000 black enrollees served in the CCC between 1933 and 1942 but he questions whether black enrollment would have been much different had Republican Representative Oscar De Priest (an African-American congressman from Illinois) not fought to have the non-discrimination amendment added to the legislation creating the Emergency Conservation Work program. As Speakman himself acknowledges, it is impossible to say what the alternative might have been had De Priest’s amendment not been made.<br /><br />For his part, Salmond doesn’t delve too deeply into the what-ifs of diversity and racial integration in the CCC, however both he and Speakman cite an account from one black enrollee that is especially significant and insightful.<br /><br /><strong>Meeting Jim Crow at Camp Dix<br /></strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgOStmSGZEmLn71LvfhX0juIZkOoDJRMzFIrlk7iFI1FqZJUe8PecM65HKS5Kziq4OGYbkh-8iSC65s8Z431VF1H7kxbnlbuAllVNjUgYPDHLV_QJDf8zcf3im-srrBiA7yKNkalsU7tK/s1600/1935+District+E+annual+Co+3489+Crosby+MS003.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577097314384020178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 142px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgOStmSGZEmLn71LvfhX0juIZkOoDJRMzFIrlk7iFI1FqZJUe8PecM65HKS5Kziq4OGYbkh-8iSC65s8Z431VF1H7kxbnlbuAllVNjUgYPDHLV_QJDf8zcf3im-srrBiA7yKNkalsU7tK/s200/1935+District+E+annual+Co+3489+Crosby+MS003.jpg" border="0" /></a>The black enrollee whom Salmond and Speakman quote is Luther C. Wandall and his comments appeared in the August 1935 issue of <em>Crisis</em>. Young Luther Wandall wrote at length about his experience in the CCC, from initial enrollment to camp life experiences. Wandall’s experience at Camp Dix is especially noteworthy as a glimpse not simply of how whites of the time treated blacks as a simple matter of policy but also how blacks viewed whites. Part of Wandall’s experience, under the heading “Jim Crow at Camp Dix,” merits an extensive quote:<br /><br /><div align="left">We reached Camp Dix about 7:30 that evening. As we rolled up in front of headquarters an officer came out to the bus and told us: “You will double-time as you leave this bus, remove your hat when you hit the door, and when you are asked questions, answer ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No, sir.’”<br /><br />And here it was that Mr. James Crow first definitely put in his appearance. When my record was taken at Pier I, a “C” was placed on it. When the busloads were made up at Whitehall Street an officer reported as follows: “35, 8 colored.” But until now there had been no distinction made.<br /><br />But before we left the bus the officer shouted emphatically: “Colored boys fall out in the rear.” The colored from several buses were herded together, and stood in line until after the white boys had been registered and taken to their tents. This seemed to be the established order of procedure at Camp Dix.<br /><br />This separation of the colored from the whites was completely and rigidly maintained at this camp. One Puerto Rican, who was darker than I, and who preferred to be with the colored, was regarded as pitifully uninformed by the officers.<br /><br />While we stood in line there, as well as afterwards, I was interested to observe these officers. They were contradictory, and by no means simple or uniform in type. Many of them were southerners, how many I could not tell. Out of their official character they were usually courteous, kindly, refined, and even intimate. They offered extra money to any of us who could sing or dance. On the other hand, some were vicious and ill-tempered, and apparently restrained only by fear.<br /><br />So you can imagine my feelings when an officer, a small quiet fellow, obviously a southerner, asked me how I would like to stay in Camp Dix permanently as his clerk! This officer was very courteous, and seemed to be used to colored people, and liked them. I declined his offer. </div><div align="left"></div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577098120578305154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 239px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtedhZ4Lw1vduYaTYVInkI65qbXaO0DZsU2iQMnCFftNvb9X1tV9h1lFbagJcE7D5iqj-T3UlcJrcfGCs3f8UCQ18DF1z9BX-f9D3HKQrCcv0srgnjQ28LACWOuUKudJRa6s33ExvcEhVC/s400/Company+4407Colored+Haughton+LA+1935001.jpg" border="0" /></strong><strong>Local Actions and Reactions, Good and Bad<br /></strong><br />When it came to honoring the no discrimination clause of the CCC act, individual states often had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the right. For example, regarding Arkansas’s CCC enrollment selection process, Salmond wrote of an exchange that took place between Director of CCC enrollment Frank W. Persons and Arkansas’s relief director William Rooksbery in 1933:<br />Similarly (compared to Georgia), after investigating an NAACP complaint of discrimination in Arkansas, Persons again threatened to withhold quotas. The state’s indignant relief director, William A. Rooksbery, unequivocally denied the charge that no Negroes had been selected. No less than three had in fact been enrolled, he protested, but Persons was unimpressed, and told him so. The chastened state official promised to induct more within the following few weeks.<br /><br />And yet it seems that in some cases, the farther down the chain of authority we travel, the more receptive and open minded the parties became. Harley E. Jolley, writing in, <em>That Magnificent Army of Youth and Peace: The Civilian Conservation Corps in North Carolina, 1933-1942</em>, notes that officials at the county level often implored the state recruiting offices to increase their quota of black enrollees. For example, this appeal: “Hoke County’s case load more than half colored. Please advise if possible to change part of the white quota to colored.” And from Orange County: “If there is anything you can do toward allowing for a considerable number of negroes instead of white men it would certainly help out our local relief situation.” But Jolley goes on to point out that, “Invariably, however, the state CCC administrator summarily rejected such requests…”<br /><br />Often, the local request for black enrollees came in the form of an awkward and easily identified backhand compliment that rings with cultural insensitivity today. Jolley recounts the editor of a local paper in Shelby, North Carolina, who wrote in support of an all black CCC camp being established nearby: “In the first place, the work to be done here is precisely the kind of work that negroes do better than white men. It will be ditch digging, terracing, and drainage work, with picks and hoes, and shovels. A gang of negroes…can do that kind of work better and happier than any other crew. In the second place, the colored boys are more tractable.” Later, an army engineer affiliated with the construction of the camp was quoted as saying, “Why, we have been controlling negroes in the south for more than 400 years. As a matter of fact, most of the progress of the Southland has been built on the broad shoulders of black boys just like these. They’ll be no problem to the city at all, whereas white boys often are.”<br /><br /><div align="left"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577100813214395218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 138px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhluX7xz4AgTg-POzXHg7y9TRiaSYvoVDKGD_BYxo5kbOxL8jSfqkw29Nh1ynKIqthXqHxmh3HRPkM4pZPJnbxXroLwHwr7qVwDZ1FHRJIj0oTjuwBeAa0ZNYn7LDASmcWNkwvIPe76n7JA/s320/1935+District+E+annual+Co+3489+Crosby+MS002.jpg" border="0" /> No question but the issue of race in the CCC was most significant in the south. In a region of the country where blacks made up as much as 50 percent of the total population, the lack of recruitment of blacks for work in southern CCC camps is disgusting today, but must be viewed in light of the overriding system of prejudice at the time. Further, cases of racism were not confined to the southern states by any means and looking back we find that camps were segregated by race nationwide and that all-black camps ran into local opposition in such seemingly progressive regions as California.<br /><br />The January 13, 1934 issue of the <em>Norfolk Journal and Guide</em> reported that in September 1933 Eddie Simons, a young black enrollee, was given a dishonorable discharge on the spot and denied his last months pay when he refused to fan the flies off of a young lieutenant from the 16th Infantry, temporarily in command of a CCC camp in North Lisbon, New Jersey. After the NAACP took up young Simons’ cause and protested the injustice to no less a person than Robert Fechner, the enrollee was given an honorable discharge “free from any charge of insubordination” and paid what he was owed.<br /><br />Salmond points out that, beyond the initial difficulty of actually getting young blacks selected and enrolled into the CCC, Arkansas citizens “accepted with equanimity many Negro camps…” while at places like Contra Costa County, California, members of the community noted that black enrollees assigned to a local camp were frequently, “in an intoxicated condition,” and claimed that the camp was “a menace to the peace and quiet of the community.” Likely as a result of this nationwide bias, CCC Director Robert Fechner never forced the issue and, if local protests erupted due to the all-black composition of a CCC camp, he would order the camp closed or moved onto an Army reservation, for, as both Salmond and Speakman point out, in Fechner’s own words, Fechner was “a Southerner by birth and raising” and thus he, “clearly understood the Negro problem.”<br /><br /><strong>Fechner’s “Problem”<br /></strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegWicCgNcpCkcsuherHZIklVh-b65qDItE3n_GkMF_yJvI49Brd6kt3EUbhoQq0WjwXLJgOYRr3MzL5ZV3WLKhvjy4qIfxRjMMs34Ptf_HEzcgIGXhdUShboXVrk97wHoQU8HNpYbY6Co/s1600/fechner1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577098861504807010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 185px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 277px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegWicCgNcpCkcsuherHZIklVh-b65qDItE3n_GkMF_yJvI49Brd6kt3EUbhoQq0WjwXLJgOYRr3MzL5ZV3WLKhvjy4qIfxRjMMs34Ptf_HEzcgIGXhdUShboXVrk97wHoQU8HNpYbY6Co/s320/fechner1.jpg" border="0" /></a>And yet it seems unclear whether Fechner did truly understand the “negro problem,” given that he insisted CCC companies be segregated by race and he seems to have been opposed to appointing blacks as supervisors in segregated, all-black CCC camps. Fechner clearly didn’t understand the “problem” from the point of view of the “negro” enrollee; perhaps Fechner simply thought of Negroes as a problem, best avoided and at least kept separate.<br /><br />In his book <em>Parks for Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal</em>, historian James Wright Steely casts a light on what is perhaps the precise moment that Fechner decreed that CCC companies be segregated by race. In 1935 when local officials in Texas advocated keeping integrated CCC camps as a compromise – indeed as an alternative – to newly proposed all-black companies, Fechner was pushed “over the edge,” as Steely points out:<br />“It is astonishing to me that…Mr. Colp would suggest that white and colored Texas boys be enrolled in the same Civilian Conservation Corps company and domiciled in the same camp…Every negro enrollee in Texas is a Texas negro. No out of state negroes are sent into Texas and in conformity with that practice no Texas negroes will be sent to any other state.”<br /><br />And thus the rules were established, the segregationist policy applied to camps in every state and territory, with the required camp and company reorganizations commencing immediately. And yet we occasionally get a glimpse of the task that Fechner had before him – notwithstanding his own racial prejudices – for he clearly understood the useful work that could be accomplished by CCC companies of any race and when faced with local opposition to all-black CCC camps, Fechner would bend to local pressure but not before reminding the locals what they might be missing. James Steely recounts Fechner’s response to the local populace following the redeployment of an all-black CCC camp from Goose Island State Park to Fort Sam Houston after it ran into local opposition. Fechner later explained to local officials: “We do not endeavor to force any community to accept a Civilian Conservation Corps company against its will, however we have to find a location for these negro companies and failing to work out the problem in a satisfactory manner…the War Department has always expressed its willingness to accept a negro company and place it on an Army reservation. <em>Where this is done it means, of course, that the state loses an approved Civilian Conservation Corps camp</em>.” [Emphasis added.] One can almost hear Fechner’s whispered, “It’s your loss,” nearly 80 years later.<br /><br />Fechner will be viewed as no less close-minded with respect to appointing black supervisors in those all-black CCC companies that were as much a product of his personal preferences as any one else’s. In a letter dated September 26, 1935, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes wrote to Fechner: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgya1yPwzuNH4gPePxTcpMmxC8g986fCHUT_KH7aewDGaiVJaBa7b1YcRF3TGj-hb9MH3yF_iZRUKe9NUbzCtq-pvMP2-yHK3yiwVFaLcljx2GXBT31iTqyd4PMlrrfplMYDDcE-p9RxIP0/s1600/1935+Fechner+letter+re+negro+enrollment001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577093691598783362" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 153px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgya1yPwzuNH4gPePxTcpMmxC8g986fCHUT_KH7aewDGaiVJaBa7b1YcRF3TGj-hb9MH3yF_iZRUKe9NUbzCtq-pvMP2-yHK3yiwVFaLcljx2GXBT31iTqyd4PMlrrfplMYDDcE-p9RxIP0/s200/1935+Fechner+letter+re+negro+enrollment001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="left">I have your letter of September 24 in which you express doubt as to the advisability of appointing Negro supervisory personnel in Negro CCC camps. For my part, I am quite certain that Negroes can function in supervisory capacities just as efficiently as can white men and I do not think that they should be discriminated against merely on account of their color. I can see no menace to the program that you are so efficiently carrying out in giving just and proper recognition to members of the negro race.”<br /><br />Robert Fechner was a product of his time and a man caught in the middle. Today it seems clear that Roosevelt appointed Fechner as a sop to southern states – in an effort to get the south to support his New Deal agenda. Once appointed, Fechner, whose own father had fought for the Confederacy and lost a leg as a result, seems to have been caught between a traditional loyalty to the old Jim Crow ways of his native south, and the burgeoning egalitarianism beginning to blossom in the United States. Sadly for Fechner, he happened to be put in charge of the one New Deal program best suited for taking bold steps in the area of racial equality. In hindsight, we should be thankful Fechner did as much as he did in this regard given his background and the tenor of the times. Indeed, James Steely points out yet another bitter bit of irony in the fact that black enrollees frequently worked on park and forest improvements that would ultimately be barred to African-American citizens under local Jim Crow laws and history will record that Robert Fechner had nothing whatsoever to do with how the parks were used once the CCC boys finished their work; the blame for that injustice falls at the feet of others.<br /></div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDXXYBXqnwg78n_UnctetEFDuQID2p2nkq7M2U49ycEMGr4s8y9DUFUnh7jOBmorigXt6u72vP7Aie2HHQkRYQni9-uArR5K1P2MknCTAyvuG6wzWCpoiJQOdU-1fGW9L3JEY8s87dZ3D/s1600/Archie+Fraijo+Picture+Detail.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577095082558399458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 274px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDXXYBXqnwg78n_UnctetEFDuQID2p2nkq7M2U49ycEMGr4s8y9DUFUnh7jOBmorigXt6u72vP7Aie2HHQkRYQni9-uArR5K1P2MknCTAyvuG6wzWCpoiJQOdU-1fGW9L3JEY8s87dZ3D/s320/Archie+Fraijo+Picture+Detail.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong>Elsewhere, Occasional Integration<br /></strong><br />Naturally, in southern states, CCC camps were strictly segregated, however there were instances of integrated CCC camps elsewhere in the United States. For example, in Arizona, where the percentage of black residents was very small, there were not enough minority enrollees to create segregated CCC companies so young black men were simply enrolled into existing CCC companies. Speakman points out that the existence of even these few integrated camps annoyed Fechner, and yet, exist they did and generally with meaningful success.<br /><br />The story of a black enrollee called “Old Joe,” offers a useful glimpse of how race relations were often smoothed over naturally in an integrated camp setting. Writing in the book Iron <em>Mike: The Life of General Ernest L. Massad</em>, James C. Milligan recounts the seemingly sad story of a black enrollee at a CCC camp in Sedona, Arizona. The enrollee, whom everyone called “Old Joe” was reportedly mentally retarded and likely should not have been admitted to the CCC on those grounds alone, but enrolled he was and assigned along with two other black enrollees to the Sedona camp. Unfortunately, Old Joe was being tormented by white enrollees who were deliberately scaring him at night. Old Joe went to then Lieutenant Massad and said, “Lieutenant, they’re going to kill me.” Lieutenant Massad soothed the frazzled enrollee’s nerves as best he could but it was an incident out in the field that eventually resolved the touchy racial situation. A group of enrollees were erecting a line of telephone poles along a roadside and were struggling with a particularly heavy one. Watching as four enrollees labored with the cumbersome telephone pole, Old Joe grew increasingly impatient until he finally pushed the struggling crew aside and, grabbing the bulky pole, single-handedly muscled the monster into the ground. Reportedly, from that point on all three black enrollees were treated as equals and Old Joe’s tormenters left him alone. With regard to race, Milligan quotes Massad as saying: “When they [the three black enrollees] showed up, I had too much military in me; I had no prejudice at all. The boys all looked the same to me, and they were treated just like everybody else. If they got into trouble they were treated just like the others.”<br /><br />Perhaps Arizona – situated as it is, west of – rather than north or south of - the Mason-Dixon line – was better suited for more than a fair share of pre-integration experimentation during the 1930s. In his forthcoming book, <em>Shaping the Park and Saving the Boys: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942</em>, scheduled for publication in 2012, historian<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZX-CvVK-LAZ7NZgkeBX0uwqIfqaTZqsOaWlL1vGg9uHXQ9tCtLq08I4Mhmvi4DcFgam94AqakEydn_e4pEvx00kvp7k8ZCinPXVW95yYBV48vAWU_3BXOofHHlG-_abWPCNXnhQbj7U3/s1600/J+B+Scott+Detail001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577099896379331426" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 197px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZX-CvVK-LAZ7NZgkeBX0uwqIfqaTZqsOaWlL1vGg9uHXQ9tCtLq08I4Mhmvi4DcFgam94AqakEydn_e4pEvx00kvp7k8ZCinPXVW95yYBV48vAWU_3BXOofHHlG-_abWPCNXnhQbj7U3/s200/J+B+Scott+Detail001.jpg" border="0" /></a> Bob Audretsch relates the story of John B. Scott, a black CCC enrollee who worked right alongside white enrollees at Grand Canyon. Indeed, Scott, who hailed from Spur, Texas, was so well respected that he was assigned the task of monitoring new enrollees on the work site and his diligence saved the life of at least one new enrollee (but you’ll have to wait for the Audretsch book to come out to learn the details). One detail of John Scott’s service in the CCC is striking and that is the fact that if he was indeed from Texas (as is indicated in the <em>1936 Phoenix District Annual</em>) it means his case represents a situation where a black enrollee was working outside of his home state in a CCC camp in another state, in the same Corps area, after Fechner’s 1935 directive that blacks be placed in camps within their home states.<br /><br />Despite Fechner’s reluctance, or outright opposition to putting blacks in positions of authority in CCC camps, some blacks did indeed rise to supervisory positions in the all-black CCC camps. Indeed, black reserve officers were even assigned to camps as medical officers and chaplains. In Pennsylvania, Captain Frederick Lyman Slade became the first black officer to command an all-black CCC camp when he assumed command duties at Camp MP-2 in Gettysburg in August of 1936 and by 1938, according to Speakman, all the military officers, including the medical officer as well as the educational advisor at the Gettysburg camp were African-American. But sadly, the ascendancy of minority representation came at the same time as the number of all-black camps was dwindling and black officers were placed in charge of only one other CCC camp before the program was disbanded.<br /></div><div align="left"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577095915634645746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 144px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgno5SMfAUHRDjtaHthUQRxNZv62T-VsriWWlo2dP_CXQcn6LgghQzji3an9zJy0WwybBcy2ngkxQ5OjcUjIhipgCIL1lDFRFLlheu6Dr_BDLTR8aSVUkzm_eyWkyBPhQy83s_sCUZYtGfA/s400/Co+822+Mayer+AZ++1936+integrated+camp001.jpg" border="0" /><strong>The Cold Hard Truth In Black and White<br /></strong><br />Perhaps three vignettes of life in the CCC – literally illustrated - will serve to exemplify what black enrollees faced during their time in the Civilian Conservation Corps. <em>The Arkansas Gazette Magazine</em> of Sunday, February 18, 1934, included a very complimentary article entitled “Arkansas’s Negro CCC Camp.” Buried low in the first column of text, under the heading <em>Late One Scene</em> is the following:<br /><div align="left">Having been opened many months after the 38 CCC camps for whites began functioning, this CCC for Negroes got lost in the shuffle, as it were, so far as newspaper notice was concerned. Consequently Camp P-58 has hitherto received no publicity whatever in daily or weekly newspapers of Arkansas, possibly proving that both the whites and the Negroes in this camp, notwithstanding evident personal pride in achievements, posses rather rare modesty.<br /><br />Given what we now know about the reluctance of Arkansas officials to enroll black enrollees into the CCC, is it any wonder this camp was “late on the scene”? Remember that by about July 1933, Arkansas had only enrolled 3 black enrollees. Yet the press easily smoothed over this chronological discrepancy.<br /><br />Included in the illustrations for historian Robert Moore’s outstanding book <em>The Civilian Conservation Corps in Arizona’s Rim Country</em> is a detail of a group photo of Company 864 assigned to Camp F24-A at Arizona’s Bar X Ranch. The casual observer will be gratified to see that there are nine black enrollees in this integrated CCC company, but gratification turns to dismay when one realizes that the nine black enrollees are sitting well apart from the rest of the company. (Elsewhere, I have seen company photos in which a chalk outline has been made on the ground to direct the black enrollees exactly where to sit!)<br /><br />A final sobering illustration of how the races were separated in the CCC can be found in the 1935 <em>Official Annual of District ‘E’ Fourth Corps Area</em>. Thumbing through this 232-page book is an enjoyable look at the history and work of the CCC in Louisiana and Mississippi and it all seems like a wonderful account of hard work and lives changed until you realize that the book itself is segregated into a white and black section, separated by a blank Certificate of Enrollment form. The histories of the all-black companies are, in keeping with the standards of the day, in the back of the book, separated from the histories of the all white companies by a blank certificate of enrollment form, included almost as an afterthought. </div><br /><div align="left"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577102442993301794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 135px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM0iS2LEj_cZk8nSFsL_miFDQE-H3aJ-bCmjh5Ub3diM76Krv7tqNe4NnXdYptxuC0YmSUCu-H4HUkzHaEWkTdIu-X4rhXnwFHeicLK7_zfMSfdvY-4TkteHf0-EcROoXTfUj-I8FhhQA/s400/1935+District+E+annual+Co+4407+Haughton+LA001.jpg" border="0" /><strong>A Blurred Conclusion, Perhaps<br /></strong><br />With respect to the treatment of minorities in the CCC, Salmond wrote:<br /><div align="justify">The outcome of the controversy over Negro enrolment is an obvious blot on the record of the CCC. The Negro never gained the measure of relief from the agency’s activities to which his economic privation entitled him. The clause in the basic act prohibiting discrimination was honored far more in the breach than in the observance…<br /><br />On the other hand, Salmond notes:<br />To look at the place of the Negro in the CCC purely from the viewpoint of opportunities missed, or ideals compromised, is to neglect much of the positive achievement. The CCC opened up new vistas for most Negro enrollees. Certainly, they remained in the Corps far longer than white youths. As one Negro wrote: “as a job and an experience for a man who has no work, I can heartily recommend it.” In short, the CCC, despite its obvious failures, did fulfill at least some of its obligations toward unemployed American Negro youth.<br /><br />So where does this leave us? Young black men were not enrolled in the CCC in an honest, direct proportion to their population in the United States, despite language in the legislation that was supposed to prevent discrimination, and once enrolled, blacks were often not treated with the same respect and dignity afforded their white counterparts in other camps and regions of the country. And yet, the occasional incidence of integrated CCC companies presaged by nearly a decade the emergence of integrated units in the military during the latter stages of World War II and eventually the full integration of the military later in Harry Truman’s administration and in time for the Korean War. No doubt, as Bob Audretsch points out in Shaping the Park and Saving the Boys, there is a true need for a detailed scholarly look at African Americans in the CCC, but for now, perhaps we might do well enough to view the issue of race relations as it pertains to the CCC not as a failure, but rather, a small success on the road to larger successes that came later and indeed, successes that continue today. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Article Copyright, Michael Smith 2011<br /></strong></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-51648172590139975722011-01-08T19:52:00.000-08:002011-01-08T20:03:29.115-08:00I Sing The Intrepid CCC Enrollee<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NWa7PCbTMU4GEjyXhBIdWhOGnm_oOLmSzM9DRZxSUDEe84FrSWNie5Zf_c4XqflTFKu8NPCXUqquk-3TO12-jWuGFnhfVFO7frQwZ2Z4jNNfZS4nJbn5hGOQUbOOZTi7ftVCHYJafUvm/s1600/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560031326986959410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 122px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NWa7PCbTMU4GEjyXhBIdWhOGnm_oOLmSzM9DRZxSUDEe84FrSWNie5Zf_c4XqflTFKu8NPCXUqquk-3TO12-jWuGFnhfVFO7frQwZ2Z4jNNfZS4nJbn5hGOQUbOOZTi7ftVCHYJafUvm/s200/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC008.jpg" border="0" /></a>It’s easy to think of CCC enrollees as wide-eyed teenagers, plucked from familiar surroundings and dumped in the wilds of the American west and certainly that general scenario is borne out in the many personal histories that we have at our disposal. On the other hand, the recorded exploits of the young men in the CCC simply cannot be overlooked. The primary record shows scores of examples of individual heroism and self-sacrifice, indeed at least one Carnegie medal went to a CCC enrollee for his courage in saving fellow enrollees during a barracks fire.<br /><br />In all likelihood, for every instance of selflessness that made headlines, there were many others for which word never left the camp or local community in which the act took place. Buried deep in the text of a personal narrative published in 1941 is an account of an action by a single CCC enrollee that typifies this notion.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTSWbTFgJi_1YmAaVT_UAGdvYt-gy4MI2vn25XY7bqRTYO3PFtSQmWDAqASMgpNKLtXTmuzMXD_2TYXLvr3cmxf41GLJUGI0t8yeNQ_bjNq-QG0Os4t7-P6ojbmhVQTqMg8rdTzZx7GO6/s1600/Intrepid+Fraijo+Group+Detail3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560030785822420994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTSWbTFgJi_1YmAaVT_UAGdvYt-gy4MI2vn25XY7bqRTYO3PFtSQmWDAqASMgpNKLtXTmuzMXD_2TYXLvr3cmxf41GLJUGI0t8yeNQ_bjNq-QG0Os4t7-P6ojbmhVQTqMg8rdTzZx7GO6/s200/Intrepid+Fraijo+Group+Detail3.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Albert W. Jernberg’s book <em>My Brush Monkeys: An Army Officer’s Story of the CCC</em> is the account of one army officer’s stint as commander of CCC camps in the latter years of the program. Jernberg’s text contains occasional offhand comments that hint at a sense of superiority over his young charges, and given the era and the circumstances, such an attitude may be somewhat understandable. By the same token, Jernberg’s frequent praise of the enrollees seems all the more sincere given what might be considered a cultural or class bias on the part of the young captain.<br /><br />One event recounted in the book is the inspiration for this blog post so I’ll quote it at length here:<br /><br /><em>Toward evening, after the crews had come in, it was discovered that an enrollee was missing. Pete instituted a search. After an hour they found the youngster fighting a fire, all alone. He had come upon a small roadside fire, caused by some careless smoker, no doubt, and as the wind was blowing strong, he no sooner killed it in one quarter when it sprang up in another. He could have left and summoned aid – and in that time the fire would have gotten out of control. He had chosen to stick with it and fight alone. When they found him, stripped to the waist and covered with dirt, he was tired out – at the end of his rope. But he had stuck to the job. With the help of Pete and the truck driver the fire was put out and the tired enrollee brought in.</em><br /><br /><em>The incident revealed to me the character of the American boy; the American boy – who can’t be licked. There was a job to be done – and he had done it, sticking to it, the odds all against him. I decided then that the rest of the world could have bigger navies and bigger armies, but while we had kids like that we had something! How could you lick the kind of spirit that brush monkey showed fighting that fire by himself?<br /></em><br />Odds are that enrollee’s one-man battle against a small wildfire went unreported in the local press. Perhaps there was mention of it in the camp paper, maybe Happy Days picked up the story, but that’s doubtful. Certainly his fellow enrollees were worried when he was overdue back at camp and no doubt he was fed a decent meal even if he arrived back in camp after the mess hall had closed. Maybe, just maybe Captain Jernberg gave him the next day off as a reward for hard work. We’ll probably just never know for sure, but rest assured there were thousands more like him in the CCC and maybe, just maybe, we owe our success in a world war to them.<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560030411086589346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 316px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytga0lgXk_iTW17imxrhV6aBcizpwWVEDI9bQajdCNYmot2LwjsrcUXUPnrJWBrkROg-xtZRwTM93nOlNvyasLqG3eyTdvBPWw3u4c7pqfL6zYh2HzEmrLXKxtoy6CizNnre2N_4VrYGQ/s400/CCC+Recruiting+Poster.jpg" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-36068806469152208742010-12-31T15:41:00.000-08:002010-12-31T15:49:19.240-08:00Missing the Important Things During the Great DepressionIt surely was a time of longing, and a time of waiting, and a time of want. Then again, if the heart knows what the heart wants, the heart surely cannot know what it has never had, nor ever known of. Some children growing up during the Great Depression may have wanted for nothing because they never had anything in the first place. In the end, the only thing they knew they were lacking was the close, loving comfort of a parent who'd been sent away in pursuit of work.<br /><br />As the door closes on this year, and a new year dawns, I’d like to finish off my 2010 posts with a simple remembrance of a little girl, in a tiny Colorado town in the 1930s. Some seventy years after the fact, she would recall laying at the foot of the bed in an upstairs bedroom, watching through the window, down a darkened street, waiting for a car to turn down the street because she knew it would be her beloved daddy, home from <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwbpo_XfukpRm6UZcKy8jY2V3-mVgdABuXGsS_zJYhkoCFyN6MkWHstfEjrWNuzR3hFid_Cvl5peDPyd_fyHEBzCiNMzHTH1lcXPDz07QuyZlAPFp8kXtZSWb42hg4kzJGR6_JGsa_m9D/s1600/Grandpa+at+Isabel.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556997051274189250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 116px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwbpo_XfukpRm6UZcKy8jY2V3-mVgdABuXGsS_zJYhkoCFyN6MkWHstfEjrWNuzR3hFid_Cvl5peDPyd_fyHEBzCiNMzHTH1lcXPDz07QuyZlAPFp8kXtZSWb42hg4kzJGR6_JGsa_m9D/s200/Grandpa+at+Isabel.jpg" border="0" /></a>his job as a foreman in a faraway CCC camp. Their town was small and very little traffic moved through the streets so she could always be certain it was daddy when the car made that final turn down their street – it couldn’t be anyone else, but her daddy.<br /><br />While he was away at camp, her daddy wrote a series of stories about The Whoppenhollar kids, who were modeled and named after his very own five children: Billy, Frank, the twins Jean and John and little Glen. He’d mail those stories home from CCC camps in places like Norwood, Delta, Gardner and San Isabel, Colorado.<br /><br />One lucky Thanksgiving, her daddy was assigned to the CCC camp just a few miles down the road and the family was invited to attend the holiday dinner in camp. She would always remember the bounty that was spread across that camp table and recall that she’d never seen so m<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZsLt3G-A6209BdoL2MfeHSA9BpoY8W_tOXLq7WBbmCZf49WysJ2LrCYdG1Qbfd32h-oSBVnH1unJaoqF0ykPGSxZAmyt61MNO9USMPcSqETihYNYWhC-U_vNUSTaw2wWOVOvzE35tZcLf/s1600/Rutherford+Picnic002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556996233118241570" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 207px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZsLt3G-A6209BdoL2MfeHSA9BpoY8W_tOXLq7WBbmCZf49WysJ2LrCYdG1Qbfd32h-oSBVnH1unJaoqF0ykPGSxZAmyt61MNO9USMPcSqETihYNYWhC-U_vNUSTaw2wWOVOvzE35tZcLf/s320/Rutherford+Picnic002.jpg" border="0" /></a>uch food in her young life. She would also remember visiting daddy in distant camps and she would recall the kindness of the camp officers. Thirty years later it would be remembered that through it all, daddy always managed to be home for the holidays.<br /><br />It isn’t a stretch to say that the creation of the CCC in 1933 saved the Rutherford family. Bill Rutherford landed a job as a camp foreman during that first year and he worked for the CCC and for FERA until 1942. His work far from home meant food on the table, even if it did come at the expense of time spent close to his wife and children.<br /><br />Now, as the calendar turns over to 2011, I look back with sadness at the fact that three of the five Whoppenhollar kids – John, Jean and Frank - have traveled on ahead, gone from this life and now joined with their mamma and daddy.<br /><br />Sure, the heart knows what the heart wants and a small child always knows what they want most of all, which is for their parents to be close at hand.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-71213238266461978222010-11-17T17:42:00.000-08:002010-11-17T17:48:03.675-08:00Spotlight Site: The CCC in Kansas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkH2VI_gd_mNQrUBsce_cSFFSPK9vuB2bcrXomuHo_Q0_OLQZ9ZQeWNI_nYN6AmC3bh0480SD1fn4aTKY4jbOyCjaAdakJWXEJ3nv1RWI9oIDRaRY9ywXXZWWpEVt_f5nEeG7zSu308TEv/s1600/CCC+Logo+Sunburst.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540700328098072770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 182px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkH2VI_gd_mNQrUBsce_cSFFSPK9vuB2bcrXomuHo_Q0_OLQZ9ZQeWNI_nYN6AmC3bh0480SD1fn4aTKY4jbOyCjaAdakJWXEJ3nv1RWI9oIDRaRY9ywXXZWWpEVt_f5nEeG7zSu308TEv/s200/CCC+Logo+Sunburst.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://kansas-ccc.blogspot.com/">The Civilian Conservation Corps in Kansas</a> is a relatively new CCC-related blog with (obviously) a focus on the work of the CCC in Kansas. To date there are twelve posted articles, each a work of merit, especially to anyone wanting information on the work of the CCC in Kansas.<br /><br />I particularly like the posting about the artwork of Joseph A. Johnson and the article’s unanswered question, “what happened to Joseph Johnson?”<br /><br />So much of the CCC story has been written and documented through the work of camps in the eastern and western U.S. with little notice given to the valuable work of the enrollees in America’s heartland. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Kansas includes a useful listing of CCC companies assigned to Kansas. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the focus seems to have been on soil erosion work.<br /><br />Finally, the posting entitled “The Future of the CCC” is especially noteworthy because in it, an enrollee writes that perhaps one day, as old men, former enrollees will visit the public square and find erected there a statue of a CCC boy in honor of their accomplishments. And isn’t that exactly how it’s transpired? Amazing.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540700104396845890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3MqJLSOX-CmwvRDZNJrXMyMPRri5dLCXjI3Di3brlrg458X7stkOXV4fFf5viKN7m2W583TRWqrrQXfAbAZogu8GgAKPKi-AWVjOxK-5U2csfxylPvqMjSRAxQ7CzPKeXFSDsQP_2DXa/s320/Statue+and+Plaque.JPG" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-37682282787917882962010-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:002010-10-06T19:08:27.480-07:00Mysteries and Conundrums, Indeed: CCC Camp Remnants in Your Neighborhood?<div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525109234831018066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 205px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEV16E-SLl3pKLcG4X9oTMlEYTeEvvAy59fy_M_uYhdYJqb0MTtAVEFJ__E07fObg8ARcKQewpAx7Kj_rb22L9VFQmozkKTu3g_90xI_guRnKqH7c5jjOcg-ehbYJDtDBcgtbB3aOq8QUN/s320/Clear+Creek+Clarion+Illustration+reduced001.JPG" border="0" />So often, the locations of former CCC camps are lost to history or perhaps known only to a few local residents and historians. Sadly, when the last of the locals pass away, they may likely take with them the last bit of knowledge regarding where the CCC camp stood in their neighborhood. In the future, it will fall to local historians to document this information and the better the documentation, the better the preservation.<br /><br />While doing a Google blog search for posts related to the Civilian Conservation Corps, I came across the blog <a href="http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/">Mysteries and Conundrums</a> where there was posted an article entitled <a href="http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/a-camp-in-the-wilderness-civilian-conservation-corps-camp-mp-4/">A Camp in the Wilderness: CCC Camp MP-4</a>. Please read it; it’s as good a bit of CCC sleuthing as you’re likely to find anywhere on the net. The author provides not only an excellent bit of geo-referencing that includes a comparison of aerial photos from the 1930s and today, but also some fascinating background on the camp and its baseball diamond.<br /><br />There is a similarly situated CCC camp in the Phoenix area (actually the site of two camps) and, unless you’re a CCC historian, a park ranger or perhaps an avid hiker, you’d likely miss the signs that tell you that a community of up to 400 young workers once lived in the area. The original flagpole base – likely constructed by enrollees from Texas – is still in place, but hidden by native vegetation and likely protected from vandalism as a result.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4UQsMOIH7k1mY_ZhO_nf7zgtPmxAe8m_1rV0IwZt8iNwAxQjkAHAmSsjl8YQT87n78ROkBYlFZJxv4EOs-CjDzRwBv3uC7yI0UQUVjpbOlUzAgSbd9aWtEvlg6sSX2XMIUwue0s-QHgA/s1600/Mountain+Camp+in+Red.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525110201504068354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 151px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4UQsMOIH7k1mY_ZhO_nf7zgtPmxAe8m_1rV0IwZt8iNwAxQjkAHAmSsjl8YQT87n78ROkBYlFZJxv4EOs-CjDzRwBv3uC7yI0UQUVjpbOlUzAgSbd9aWtEvlg6sSX2XMIUwue0s-QHgA/s200/Mountain+Camp+in+Red.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Which brings us to the potential downside of knowing about and revealing the locations of these old CCC camp sites. How much information is too much information? Fortunately, what little remains of Camp MP-4 is likely protected simply because it rests within the Fredricksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlfields Memorial, and likewise, the Phoenix CCC camp is inside a City of Phoenix Park, but what of the hundreds of CCC camps spread throughout the forests and fields of the United States. Fact is, most will continue to decay in silent anonymity, prey to the odd vandal or treasure hunter digging for artifacts, but mostly giving in to the unstoppable march of time and the ravages of mother nature.<br /><br />All of which, leads me to another interesting topic: the work of the CCC at Civil War battlefield sites. Perhaps a post for next time.<br /></div><div><div><div><div><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Meantime, some snapshots of CCC camp remnants that I’ve visited….</span></strong></div><div> </div></div><div>Two views of what is left of Camp Custer in South Dakota...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0_pBUJ9TyU0eFOUE8kdtXX7WYDIUgBi6oaFWa41o1crRgnAFEB6o0OWF8sHsRW2swT1hWUMg_UEJQde1Nwu1nSoeOVU1MBynppQCjcIW7WJMxVYeh07pLULnXqsj61ZGjoWrqdEI8vQA/s1600/Camp+Custer+SD+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525111091591970690" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0_pBUJ9TyU0eFOUE8kdtXX7WYDIUgBi6oaFWa41o1crRgnAFEB6o0OWF8sHsRW2swT1hWUMg_UEJQde1Nwu1nSoeOVU1MBynppQCjcIW7WJMxVYeh07pLULnXqsj61ZGjoWrqdEI8vQA/s320/Camp+Custer+SD+2.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6PRgLw4d-7bV08TAKSOY_2g9UpywIQqfXsm0NPpqQuEV_B4I0H_lUzSxlfWgkCRbikw6dKSZr6kZJGGcEYSP7v30FBcA0BlZboxFlz8Q2bxROsTQdMtix74ASjEMhk-zR27wWYJa8z-V/s1600/Camp+Custer+SD+1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525110665513932146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6PRgLw4d-7bV08TAKSOY_2g9UpywIQqfXsm0NPpqQuEV_B4I0H_lUzSxlfWgkCRbikw6dKSZr6kZJGGcEYSP7v30FBcA0BlZboxFlz8Q2bxROsTQdMtix74ASjEMhk-zR27wWYJa8z-V/s320/Camp+Custer+SD+1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>A shot of the old dynamite bunker at the CCC camp site in Cumberland Falls near Corbin, Kentucky.....</div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525111867140711602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25H2S2x98ihPjmpftHZvjDyfjKOQOGcpK-M_4_tZyUEIQBs7WiLtinNZUqDXdR7PaF4fdawY4GadqWrkaGMXgWRZyBXqiam2U83nS3tz9AM3FH1NqDDUHyN5xpj-fgHhRivpdqQdsGcM_/s320/Kentucky.JPG" border="0" />Two stone pillars are almost all that remain of the two CCC camps that once operated at Phoenix South Mountain Park, but if you look closely when you're there, you might find the old flagpole stand, too!</div><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525112557995740706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOV7OTopIvdNAyNzpLkYpUZZd4crgBbik1zkhL5m6wiE1YbY8W-FYnE4p6wUrXdA2u33Sh2cZmfMdZF7yPcClZksv5gawjt78UBDN7oIJGPUj5vQuOIsN7R2YzM_MDtouuWVkfn4i_zVq/s320/Phoenix.JPG" border="0" />It's anyone's guess what this concrete structure was used for at the old Lynx Creek CCC camp near Prescott, Arizona.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525115434392166610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0k3t883nKIcnt0RgWnLNisylwZuqADD66fcJwpuUyTIbNvvG28GbDm9IQ6WI0rgdsHYRwpOlRi2_lzDuVv0hjOybmFcxlI7cxdXydtxNb8KuXUy4lCLdVlRVhXpNh-tW4CI-Ba4u6pFQ/s320/Lynx+Creek.JPG" border="0" /> This is the floor of the old latrine and shower building at the former site of the Walnut Creek CCC camp, also near Prescott, Arizona.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525115798688809522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisznW-o2l8jWzyf9kUEhDEwU3kyrmTFg_6nWh5yvggiBM98uEFxlBM1PJ9-7h6igu6_pA4eVBCnxcF2ud37tWxFVKWAjLPl5m93QHNLm5F6ivjTaEVR_YJgaYbc0_J7RvScFxPJBYYDUMT/s320/Walnut+Creek.JPG" border="0" />There are a number of remains at the site of the Schultz Pass CCC camp outside Flagstaff, Arizona. Look carefully and you'll see porcelain insulators and wires strung in the trees....</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525116214712276546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 206px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLZIm2Y_ltLRJ8AntJWKvIxZfH7nEl5Hrk3l0XQfTx4Pvo0bkEX8buT5kPYC85ECrXs3CNFa2ojASbi13kbI-gPCCSgSIqX1pSIO3CgvBRlCilEzu2jP86layhp0ToN0MspZWAKpKThiX/s320/Shultz+Pass+Camp+1.JPG" border="0" /> ...and the concrete floors of a number of buildings including what was probably the mess hall and the officer's quarters.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525116517192095906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecEawQ2VhdaPBCj4xoXm0RLeIyJ-iLz9XAQQKlcrzXS18jM6-miYH_qspsAmZBsE0DNPDY6c2H4PjRsrUI9MHOIHSdcVDv-orG6kALChUGVSqxZbPW9wwgH5cjhk6Bm3FK45r7H506aaF/s320/100_6839.JPG" border="0" /><br />But perhaps the neatest CCC camp remnant in Arizona is this "monument" built by CCC enrollees at the Indian Gardens camp near Payson, Arizona....</div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525117190359775714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3tkekMHHwrLrdXKXaRzMLwc_CXdqaeTMoyZYJgDAVYGiSN0shonRVES3dKehIxMOA4Hp6zgymxmag-FT-icqY92fqX5UEo3XgcG340g0u-g8gCxvdc5QpJGpcmGnY2xdZ2ZHQeJYyEjr/s400/100_0482.JPG" border="0" />It's easily accessible, without so much as a five step walk off a major road, but it's only there for those who truly want to see it. If you whiz by at 50 miles per hour, you'll miss it.<br /><div><div><div> </div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-54763378636256327382010-09-15T18:45:00.000-07:002010-09-15T20:21:53.724-07:00Regimentation. Standardization. Professionalism.<strong><em>The first rules of sturdy workmanship: work from a good set of plans and have knowledgeable, dependable foremen.</em></strong><br /><br />While every CCC enrollee’s story is unique, there is a commonality of experience that runs though the entire program and listening to the stories or reading the personal accounts of former enrollees, one is stuck by common themes that run through the narrative of the Civilian Conservation Corps.<br /><br />Well, I’ve happened upon a set of photos that may help confirm the universality of the whole CCC experience, while at the same time perhaps speaking to the regimentation that was required to successfully shepherd hundreds of thousands of young men through a national work program, while producing construction improvements of lasting merit.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3D0PY1AbR2cILJDzb-Ao4-VnUFfUO_TAfiJrh6kvhBpYtLoN4tEy1U5z44wyw0cbDjHQhrf_WvpR8xW8FF4xkR1rqPQb037BA02grlO7zAQn3pqLtn4gElsJ2ei5Z0Pt6izPPyLpnF6r7/s1600/GC+Pole+installation.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517322964966163618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 144px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3D0PY1AbR2cILJDzb-Ao4-VnUFfUO_TAfiJrh6kvhBpYtLoN4tEy1U5z44wyw0cbDjHQhrf_WvpR8xW8FF4xkR1rqPQb037BA02grlO7zAQn3pqLtn4gElsJ2ei5Z0Pt6izPPyLpnF6r7/s200/GC+Pole+installation.JPG" border="0" /></a>Consider this image from a collection of photos taken in Northern Arizona during the 1930s. This particular photo is of a wooden pole configuration at or near Grand Canyon National Park. I’ve no idea what the purpose of the twin pole arrangement is; perhaps it was part of a gate, or perhaps it was one in a series of telephone or telegraph poles strung through the juniper. Considered on its own, the photo is not especially remarkable and one wonders why the photographer even bothered with snapping the picture at all. I received the negative from the old National Association of CCC Alumni in response to a request for information about the CCC at Grand Canyon back in the early to mid-1990s. I made a print of the image and returned the negative to NACCCA, not giving this particular photo much thought.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyQpCHqr5nDP_DD-1pQ8aA2fyfdrrHsa_saec9y9iHKS2tjPpWnwzm_GRxiV3kJjTjsIk91zZ_Nxk4Q1ls8dqx3bVRLOp39iAk1J8T1rfRekOG6roxVhivE5Qa7H-JPWlySyPuNM8SXrf/s1600/Walnut+Creek+Pole+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517322707969596578" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyQpCHqr5nDP_DD-1pQ8aA2fyfdrrHsa_saec9y9iHKS2tjPpWnwzm_GRxiV3kJjTjsIk91zZ_Nxk4Q1ls8dqx3bVRLOp39iAk1J8T1rfRekOG6roxVhivE5Qa7H-JPWlySyPuNM8SXrf/s200/Walnut+Creek+Pole+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Flash forward a few years to a hike I took with a fellow CCC historian and advocate in the area around Prescott, Arizona. While walking the grounds of the former CCC camp at Walnut Creek, heads down, strolling through knee-and waist high vegetation, we studied the remains of what once was a shower and latrine building and assorted other structures. But one particular camp remnant spoke to me more strongly than the others that day and it only took a second or two for me to realize I’d seen this sort of construction before.<br /><br /><br />This pole configuration, evidently set for stringing telephone or electrical wire between buildings in the camp, was nearly an exact twin to the pole installation in the picture from Grand Canyon. I snapped a couple of shots of what otherwise would have been a meaningless, nondescript wooden pole, knowing that somehow there was probably a lesson there somewhere.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517322208654705650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWFkzdWE4iCA0gQt1OMUbZvSRtE7bQV82DKU63c2GTHF6x1efaL-SUaYq9WCHHVNdrVDtZiSSXxJNlM0TC_K4MAv77AOWLgjIU_PZVOC_UQm4HCrFYFd5jKcM1DwW7l0TqiIdhtc19fkG/s320/Pole+Composite+3+best.JPG" border="0" />I started off this piece with the notion that I’d find value in the commonality – the banality, perhaps – of CCC work and the CCC experience, thinking that to be a good thing. I still think the commonality of the CCC experience is a good thing; perhaps it sooths us some 75 years later, but in contemplating these two wooden poles in two separate regions of Arizona, I’m struck by a more valuable message, and that is the importance of good standard plans, a strong work ethic, high standards of workmanship and a cadre of experienced professional leaders (in the form of Park Service and Forest Service foremen). How else can you account for the fact that these two poles – hundreds of miles apart – form nearly a mirror image and that at least one of them is still standing more than 7 decades after it was placed in the ground? That’s a bit of commonality we could use today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-85201613021395355942010-04-27T20:07:00.000-07:002010-04-27T20:13:12.914-07:00Spotlight Site: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's "The Look of Nature"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKhkUhUtD5LkEcGTRDdvNzz_km2knZUQ5CB6gb7_hUdm-NSLO1vrmHtY0XHjhdVuWZoOk1bwcchxuzi1hAAh54qISoYWBEjRSyTm8seezoxXrgzeatczYdAoTt-iYl4rvZjpZGMsQaiih/s1600/hauling_stone+at+bastrop+SP.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465020766306536674" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 187px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKhkUhUtD5LkEcGTRDdvNzz_km2knZUQ5CB6gb7_hUdm-NSLO1vrmHtY0XHjhdVuWZoOk1bwcchxuzi1hAAh54qISoYWBEjRSyTm8seezoxXrgzeatczYdAoTt-iYl4rvZjpZGMsQaiih/s320/hauling_stone+at+bastrop+SP.jpg" border="0" /></a>Our second Spotlight Site is entitled <a href="http://texascccparks.org/">The Look of Nature:</a> Designing Texas State Parks During the Great Depression. The site is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and it’s an absolutely outstanding resource for learning about the work of the CCC in 29 Texas parks.<br /><br />Visitors to the site can browse through an interactive Archive of CCC related images, view specific Park Profiles and work through an Interactive Program. There are even video clips and oral histories available at the site.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9j_P7aoXEsS_mI8jsYqUNuByxLfV7wu7yEvwMl4zI9mKvm8EgrrJgZhMuJ40uGoISBLMZ6QvqbY7-T8f6prhHXTt-4GuqN8v1ge7ztODAcQBTBNCfIncg8rdisji7yMT0_viqluw-pdd/s1600/caddo_we_get_the_job_done_500x335.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465020560141985426" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 134px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9j_P7aoXEsS_mI8jsYqUNuByxLfV7wu7yEvwMl4zI9mKvm8EgrrJgZhMuJ40uGoISBLMZ6QvqbY7-T8f6prhHXTt-4GuqN8v1ge7ztODAcQBTBNCfIncg8rdisji7yMT0_viqluw-pdd/s200/caddo_we_get_the_job_done_500x335.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Texas in particular seems to have a special understanding of the importance of the CCC and its history, which at times seems a bit ironic given that many Texas enrollees were actually shipped out of state to perform CCC work in other states such as Colorado and Arizona. Regardless of how many may have been shipped to other states to work, the enrollees who labored on in Texas made an indelible imprint on the history of the state and their important work is nicely commemorated on this Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Site. Be sure to visit and save it as a favorite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-69473635273626020672010-04-19T16:28:00.000-07:002010-04-27T20:14:08.085-07:00Revisionist History: Leave the CCC Out of It<strong></strong><br /><strong>Would you tell these guys the CCC was a failure?</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ZWRi7rTRy_Qc6bYG8pkVNCAjZTVF2kFuAZ9LGP3SN6YPCbQAjTmrDLun7Id9FVhdH2mklAPHDoLMBbwDYyyG_A8ZVcR5zI1Ji38gxwV3i12rq3cb6P5sWwQCyAjiQjA45u8TpqLt2j6O/s1600/Group+on+bridge+detail+jpg.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461999332882551650" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ZWRi7rTRy_Qc6bYG8pkVNCAjZTVF2kFuAZ9LGP3SN6YPCbQAjTmrDLun7Id9FVhdH2mklAPHDoLMBbwDYyyG_A8ZVcR5zI1Ji38gxwV3i12rq3cb6P5sWwQCyAjiQjA45u8TpqLt2j6O/s400/Group+on+bridge+detail+jpg.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is refreshing to see that the authors of the latest revisionist editorial to come out against the New Deal have wisely chosen to leave out any mention of the most popular and arguably the most successful New Deal program, the CCC.<br /><br />Burton and Anita Folsom, who both hail from Hillsdale College, wrote earlier this month (ironically, on the anniversary of FDR’s death) that the New Deal did nothing to end the Great Depression. The editorial appeared in the Wall Street Journal and you can read it <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304024604575173632046893848.html">Here.</a><br /><br />Referring to the many “alphabet agencies” created during the New Deal, Folsom and Folsom state that “…the WPA, AAA, NRA and even the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) failed to create sustainable jobs.” (I think someone working for the TVA today would beg to differ but that’s an argument they’ll have to make.) For my part I see it as a sign of progress that nowhere in the Folsom’s editorial is there any reference made to the CCC, the ECW or the Civilian Conservation Corps.<br /><br />I’ve stated many times over that I am not an economist and I’m really not much of an historian and I don’t pretend to be. I’ve made a study of the CCC but when it comes to the larger impacts of the New Deal, I’ll defer to anyone with a reasonable argument. However when a revisionist historian props up their argument by making spurious claims about the CCC, they’d better have their facts straight. For this reason, I’m inclined to applaud the Folsom’s, at least for their having had the good sense to leave the CCC out of it.<br /><br />I’m reminded of a revisionist rant that came out about five years ago from a gentleman by the name of Richard Ebeling – also associated with Hillsdale College at the time. Mr. Ebeling penned a piece entitled “When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America,” in which he made the following, stunning claim about the Civilian Conservation Corps:<br /><br /><em>“Much of the urban youth of America were rounded up and sent off to national forests for regimentation and mock military-style drilling as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).<br /></em><br />You can read the entire editorial here: <a href="http://www.fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/1005RMEColumn.pdf">Richard Ebeling's Article.</a><br /><br />I won’t bother to expound on the many ways in which Mr. Ebeling’s claim is outlandish and stupid – he’s a professor of economics who should probably stick to economics – but I will offer some commentary on why I think the Folsom’s were right to leave the CCC out of their argument.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW8tOR2spTCdE2tEEo9ZuKMwWtwLT_NdlA_5FL2oBYwvLmIrMrub2JsktvxFV3sT4gwvoVoZxyLTg42WBn9Lgz-BsGaNTXpOozUteJD0GtlTuJRJKuFJ0rZJWLfbzza-q3yVeJQbMZKLtP/s1600/Truck+crew+detail.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461998976051446242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 204px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW8tOR2spTCdE2tEEo9ZuKMwWtwLT_NdlA_5FL2oBYwvLmIrMrub2JsktvxFV3sT4gwvoVoZxyLTg42WBn9Lgz-BsGaNTXpOozUteJD0GtlTuJRJKuFJ0rZJWLfbzza-q3yVeJQbMZKLtP/s320/Truck+crew+detail.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The CCC was not established to create sustainable jobs. If anything the CCC was geared toward removing single, teenaged men from the workforce in order to open up jobs for older men who were often unemployed heads of households. Furthermore, the CCC was created with the goal of improving the health and well being of its enrollees while providing them a chance to help their families through their own hard work (real self-esteem building, not the phony stuff sociologists spout about today). The money an enrollee sent home every month was plowed back into the economy in the form of rent payments and weekly grocery purchases. The CCC wasn’t a cure all and nobody with a lick of sense will attempt to argue that it was. By the same token, nobody with a lick of sense would reasonably claim the New Deal was a failure because of anything the CCC did, except perhaps with respect to its failure to racially integrate the camps.<br /><br />I’m pleased that we can still discuss the New Deal on its merits and I’m pleased that supporters and detractors can all have their voices and opinions heard. I’m especially pleased that in the last five years or so, we’ve at least learned where the salient arguments are to be made and that the success or failure of a single New Deal program isn’t sufficient evidence for either side and that perhaps the CCC in its own right has risen above the discussion about whether or not the New Deal brought us out of the Great Depression.<br /><br />To see an earlier editorial regarding revisionist works by Amity Shlaes (The Forgotten Man) and James Powell (FDR’s Folly) see my post entitled <a href="http://forestarmy.blogspot.com/2007/07/folly-of-revisionist-history.html">The Folly of Revisionist History.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-35821255926424464822010-04-06T20:53:00.000-07:002010-04-06T21:06:42.569-07:00Semper Patria Mea: A New Look For Camp Commanders<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbhlVvwkNBkAtWnDiTXo3u-B12zotSUyHIgXKiEPW_dvi-o78TS6i1jI6I6ZInSroiY-FwV3NPwZ9ZjjP66do8YvLpP-cM-VuYB9j3y_dMAQXynAOsyt4QPNOlvSAmYubVddcjpPS8Qj6/s1600/Happy+Days+April+13+1940002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457241687449773186" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 159px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbhlVvwkNBkAtWnDiTXo3u-B12zotSUyHIgXKiEPW_dvi-o78TS6i1jI6I6ZInSroiY-FwV3NPwZ9ZjjP66do8YvLpP-cM-VuYB9j3y_dMAQXynAOsyt4QPNOlvSAmYubVddcjpPS8Qj6/s200/Happy+Days+April+13+1940002.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>We now know when the insignia worn by the camp staff was changed. But why?</strong></span></em><br /><br /><div><div><div>In his work indexing the Arizona-related stories from <em>Happy Days</em>, Bob Audretsch has uncovered tons of interesting bits of information about the CCC, not just in Arizona and not just pertaining to the little, often overlooked references to camp life.<br /><br />Larger developments and policies that shaped the program between 1933 and 1942 are widely known or at least vaguely understood but often the little facts behind the implementation of the policy are seemingly lost to history – buried deep in a stack of boxes in the National Archives perhaps.<br /><br />Folks who’ve made a study of the CCC will have noticed that at some point in the lifespan of the program, the officers who ran the camps switched uniforms and their insignia changed from the familiar insignia of the U.S. military to an insignia created specially for the CCC. Bob Audretsch has located an article that spells out this change in the April 13, 1940 issue of <em>Happy Days</em>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZktmaDR3yf_b7KJbPaTmJ6Y87RT5WZOQD4KAHN7WhhGqKnPuQ7wNR4SN6geuMVMp_3tpX3A6InOJlW_YlPAJ6Ce9tRIpRjqyM3WQReNuDWLiDgETTfc1g01WLOA5tIJ4E_MWtjbc1c1x/s1600/Happy+Days+April+13+1940001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457240989114881474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 92px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZktmaDR3yf_b7KJbPaTmJ6Y87RT5WZOQD4KAHN7WhhGqKnPuQ7wNR4SN6geuMVMp_3tpX3A6InOJlW_YlPAJ6Ce9tRIpRjqyM3WQReNuDWLiDgETTfc1g01WLOA5tIJ4E_MWtjbc1c1x/s200/Happy+Days+April+13+1940001.jpg" border="0" /></a>Under the headline "E<strong>agle and Latin Phrase for Officers",</strong> the article reads:</div><div><br /><em>Washington, D.C. – CCC camp officials are to get a new corps insignia to replace the regulation one now used on CCC uniform hats. Devised by the war Department on request of Director James J. McEntee, the insignia will resemble the drawing above. Specifications now are being drawn by the Army Quartermaster.<br />The design, somewhat similar to that of the Army, will be of jewelry bronze, 2 ½ inches high, with raised letters. The Latin quotation at the bottom, “Semper Patria Mea,” means “Always My Country.” It was chosen by Director McEntee. The design was executed by the heraldry office of the War Department.</em><br /><br />The reason for the switch lies buried in a bureaucratic maneuver that took place in 1939. The War Department was never 100% on board with participation in the CCC program; they were a reluctant partner at first and eventually grew into a grudging participant, having recognized a number of benefits that could be derived from their participation in the CCC program. Nevertheless the relationship between CCC Director Fechner and the War Department was never a close one and by 1939 the War Department was taking steps to have itself absolved of responsibility for the camps.<br /><br />A move by Congress in April 1939 only served to push the divorce along. On April 3rd Congress voted to give full disability benefits to Reserve officers assigned to active duty with the CCC; this was an expense the Roosevelt administration could not sanction and in response he decided to replace all Reserve officers assigned to CCC camps with civilians and the changeover was complete by the end of 1939. Nevertheless, the War Department remained in control of the camp administration, but the change in policy explains why the insignia of camp personnel was undergoing the changes that are outlined in the short piece from the April 13, 1940 issue of Happy Days. (I’ve drawn on John Salmond’s book <em>The Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933-1942</em> for background on the change in policy.)<br /><br />Who knows what other tidbits one is likely to turn up in poring over the old issues of <em>Happy Days</em> newspaper? Future researchers will certainly owe a dept of thanks to Bob Audretsch for his work in compiling the Arizona index for <em>Happy Days</em>. Perhaps other researchers would consider undertaking a similar indexing project for other states. Imagine if stories for all the states and territories were indexed for <em>Happy Days</em>. What a gold mine that source would become.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-80090691990859678112009-12-05T19:08:00.001-08:002009-12-05T19:32:57.589-08:00Nearly Lost: Photos of CCC Work at Interstate Park, Wisconsin<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-Oxe4nVgW0QSROe3OT7_pvOgCFJywwEqqZNpGnjvkfFYaGtR4vlArvSFSA05X0HqkvMKIW66KGYaxWERH-Q1lDrS9XLuFqMye26-Yqitrr8KRRnXNt5EGMjlzOzqCm8lv6J6mkaxdKFg/s1600-h/Interstate+Park+Camp+Sign001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411959291728981394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 193px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-Oxe4nVgW0QSROe3OT7_pvOgCFJywwEqqZNpGnjvkfFYaGtR4vlArvSFSA05X0HqkvMKIW66KGYaxWERH-Q1lDrS9XLuFqMye26-Yqitrr8KRRnXNt5EGMjlzOzqCm8lv6J6mkaxdKFg/s320/Interstate+Park+Camp+Sign001.jpg" border="0" /></a>The November-December issue of the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy <em><strong>Journal</strong></em> ran a terrific article about the Intestate Park bison site and its connection to CCC history. Camp Interstate was established in order to use CCC labor to build roads, trails, shelter houses and other amenities at Interstate Park in northwestern Wisconsin. The archaeological work came about purely by happenstance.<br /><br />In the summer of 1936, according to the article by Marlin Hawley, enrollees of Company 633 were digging a ditch to install a pipe. In the process of digging the ditch, the enrollees unearthed large animal bones and, before too long, having uncovered more and more bones, the camp superintendent decided to consult with zoologists at the University of Minnesota. The zoologists recognized the bones as those of some sort of bison, perhaps an extinct species.<br />Digging resumed and in short order a large hammered copper pike and two small spearheads were found amongst the buried bones at the Interstate Park site. According to Hawley, with the discovery of the of bison bones, the copper pike and the small spearheads “the CCC had unwittingly discovered one of the most enigmatic associations yet of artifacts and a vanished species.”<br /><br />As it turns out, the name Interstate Park has a special significance to me all the way out here in the desert southwest. It seems that another bit of archaeological salvage work has resulted in the rescue of dozens of photos depicting CCC work at Interstate Park. It seems that the previous owner’s family was planning to dump them into the trash when Mr. Arley Ross, a member of NACCCA Chapter 44, saved them. Arley saved the whole lot of photos, along with a few postcards and it is only through his diligence several years ago that you are now able to see some of those images here.<br /><br />In all the time I’ve had these photos, I never imagined that a significant archaeological discovery was also part of the CCC work at Interstate Park.<br /><br />Perhaps the ditch in this picture is part of the work that ultimately resulted in the discovery of the bison bones. If you look carefully, you’ll see the sign that reads “Interstate Park Camp Grounds.” Working in the snow like this must have been tough business!<br /><div><div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411958655887280802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 261px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhqvUt4vXL6YknpVdw3P7b3i6rDme62vGV6R0bX7FTwqFTlHsJ_9XhCyHB_68JGAr8D1-S11tAjQcdGOHEyXbSxtHvYKbO3Xf38I2K_oihuVwypCADWgEDAIpd-MeUVfgk96jlLviYV3f/s400/Interstate+Park+Ditch+Digging001.jpg" border="0" />Here’s another image of enrollees digging a ditch.</div><div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411958326727437362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 282px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44HskIa6YM4ak2FBdzabLlhumhXGfTDf1TdICoZ2QpD1KpzA-s7ZMMlkQfHPLZB-X1ibKTauSOzY53OQNQrpaNNhl3q7u9IfzBPVYqRgIZmdRjWOd-Gvy6E_8uIbJVnZ4kbknG6PRuu6A/s400/Interstate+Park+Ditch+Digging002.jpg" border="0" /> Here’s a picture of the motor pool, where truck drivers appear to be shining up their trucks for inspection.<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411957906675406770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 195px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFOl4GgjOcUCDcz0ALC_mFX_L_GX_ysjecKGs0db61AALpbLxcEUIxD0oTBWj88Ca_v3qUbcZ3WcxD0WhJ0aosT7GR3jnPMKia4Sf_pVwdKeTGukjpzUTZQOKHAuNTUgtJTu0gbdkfkJS/s320/Interstate+Park+Motorpool001.jpg" border="0" /> Here’s an image of three enrollees posing by a truck. The truck has “Camp Pattison” painted above the windshield. It’s unclear whether this was taken at the Interstate Park camp or somewhere else.<br /><div><div><div><div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411957497611517698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 172px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WGN9KQlT2n0O6O3MkwqSU22O3tg9Z1i5wE16CX2x2dzz_bQZkRNQYq8-31vm5HAOBs7Mg4g5iMkkft2fdxPuI-Tencgjhyphenhyphenjw6-sRX9-rmfY9Ue6ETC5VKshmy0FlLeXnIKD1LTDi1cA9/s320/Interstate+Park++Posing+by+Truck001.jpg" border="0" />Here’s a picture of three fresh faced enrollees who look like they might be trying on their CCC work clothes for the first time.<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411957158698398850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 231px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0Wx3hR3WDaaLhEZSxdTrnnzhz_J7R1ULvnTx3ujtDaUT60iokRx_j_w8z01n6UPKJTPSRYPURDpe6EXXQO75ZUh-c2aCLsb3bYIMuxfCvgQVBZKvYi9p5RT5lG2aOS94-p-eDWs-vjux/s320/Interstate+Park+Rookies001.jpg" border="0" />Here’s a group of enrollees posing in the field with their foreman (the distinguished older looking gentleman in the sweater and coat).<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411956820803660370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnyDg3N14BJ9JsrfVy1UmMguXRYvcSZXuYZbqbMqn8S26HLHNhwxSEDcsXNopsvJzw8_CWoGEWfg3tnDFBDJ0hC0IjnEOJtUuhLzFwdC1wWjEDxNJpo6mAhBtMefeyiyspdmdJul1e6Ry/s320/Interstate+Park+Work+Crew001.jpg" border="0" />Here’s a picture that seems to show that it wasn’t all hard work at Camp Interstate. The previous owner of the photos wrote “Homebrew” on this picture, so we can assume they’re not drinking milk. It’s fun to note that one fellow is drinking out of a gravy boat and the fellow on the far right is holding a pair of football or baseball cleats.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411956495799409682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuykDw9QFwIFmqm8vq_Am82KYSeacVJYwO0tChleYhWaovF8m-8IrEmPpRL9Q5i1QGMBtqNdEcAdgZmBV4OZvaQPdS27nBHjnbaH8_HnqsVKXsF9mpYFP0e9H0ZmIw7jTvbrHZZy5tUeO/s320/Interstate+Park+Homebrew001.jpg" border="0" /> The Hawley article points out that the bison excavation project was the largest archaeological project conducted by the CCC in Wisconsin and the assemblage of bison bones is the largest in the eastern U.S. It’s safe to say that the “forest army” did more than forest work.<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411955787523059010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 279px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgQxwEchlTsvLUQHmRJt_T278N0fS27Dg7QqAV6tkVA3g_OtU8qD4wDengUUfyCdLRfd39RHLqJiGxGVx-hbEEKtmDe5W9Rc-czdVvTbj_63PpD6MWzecuDYbczo-uxvNhwPg5TQJWsHw/s400/Interstate+Park+Wall+Road+Postcard001.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-74384049249450604102009-09-22T19:48:00.000-07:002009-09-22T19:58:42.696-07:00A Time to Gather. A Time to Remember. A Time to Give Thanks.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO16G3ypZn-xFJhx-n7Z_PVoVq1OsBr_ee08Wwh1M75DRnGu_HS3ifyytINeNFilPAndFL4vRnkOg0Mx_waCi2iLw9ezctmcsLlLKj13xWvi8WDiy-Y4nlsD0ti_16HWCA7UazzAbOyDZO/s1600-h/100_9022.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384491082160241570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO16G3ypZn-xFJhx-n7Z_PVoVq1OsBr_ee08Wwh1M75DRnGu_HS3ifyytINeNFilPAndFL4vRnkOg0Mx_waCi2iLw9ezctmcsLlLKj13xWvi8WDiy-Y4nlsD0ti_16HWCA7UazzAbOyDZO/s200/100_9022.JPG" border="0" /></a>As the 2009 Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy national reunion draws closer I’m looking forward to the familiar faces I know that I’ll see when we gather in Denver. On the other hand I’m contemplating the likely absence of some of CCC veterans who I saw only just last year in Virginia.<br /><br />We tend to think of those CCC boys as they were: 17 years old and wide-eyed as they sheepishly stepped off a train in some faraway town. We forget that those who survived their time in the CCC (most did), and the World War (a lot didn’t), and Korea and Vietnam (yes, they were still fighting then, too) grew up and grew old as they raised families of their own. Quietly, with little fanfare.<br /><br />I think that for a long time, the National Association of CCC Alumni (NACCCA) and CCC Legacy reunions were just that: <em>reunions</em>. Recently, however, these gatherings are becoming something different as fewer and fewer CCC veterans are able to make the trip. I see a lot more sons and daughters and grandchildren at the national reunions now, and that’s wonderful. I hope the families always feel inspired to participate in CCC history if for no other reason than to fight for it, to preserve it and to stomp down the occasional naysayer who tries to tar the CCC using the same broad brush they use to denigrate the New Deal.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71BZekfrWDy9BHJNI_pMNrkcapvgfxNhO7AcTmPEVkwBcux_hNY8LbR3ulRv2BUppucJf4RO2QfKhyQIfBiXvMdGf_pZOusw2zfX_RBN8dDPF2BQY5XfqDOZqT4qrMMtoYkzMKINY5Q-0/s1600-h/2007+Kentucky+Group.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384490619053134450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71BZekfrWDy9BHJNI_pMNrkcapvgfxNhO7AcTmPEVkwBcux_hNY8LbR3ulRv2BUppucJf4RO2QfKhyQIfBiXvMdGf_pZOusw2zfX_RBN8dDPF2BQY5XfqDOZqT4qrMMtoYkzMKINY5Q-0/s320/2007+Kentucky+Group.jpg" border="0" /></a>In time, our gatherings will be conferences or symposia, where academics discuss and debate the history and meaning of the CCC, but for now, the reunions have become something in between, not quite reunion, not quite conference. In some ways it’s the best of both worlds were it not for the declining numbers of CCC veterans in attendance. Perhaps some of us will look back wistfully – maybe on the advent of the 100th anniversary of the CCC – and say, “I remember the reunion of 2009 when we actually got to meet some CCC veterans in person!”<br /><br />My point with all this of course is to simply remind you that the 2009 reunion, conference, symposium – whatever you’d like to call it – is fast approaching!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The 2009 Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy annual reunion is scheduled for October 8-11 in Littleton, Colorado. You can get additional details by visiting the CCC Legacy website </span><a href="http://www.ccclegacy.org/2009_annual_event.htm#Things%20you%20need%20to%20know%20about%"><span style="font-size:130%;">HERE</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">.</span> <div></div><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384490218687048674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5AZEOcJ35HyqPYnz7LjpukV79mhDmPz6KhJz4I7yf6DsfwHHovIQGn3_xpsLHrr7YStbzJrf_naXVEhd8xzCJjEfusifcZYUNOvMjS9OOCbNxJNYdS6fYRC3swOJFqjjAGZh1ROanl2-/s320/2008+Virginia+Group.JPG" border="0" /></p><p>I sure hope to see you there!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-75018203799360239622009-08-04T20:00:00.000-07:002009-08-04T20:04:43.389-07:00Spotlight Site<strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>Spotlight Site</em><br /></strong><br />Once again, it’s been far too long since I posted anything new here and for that I apologize. My thanks to those of you who may still be checking in from time to time in the hope that I’ll finally get on the ball and post something new.<br /><br />As a way to hopefully get the ball rolling again, I’d like to point you to what I’m calling a Spotlight Site. A Spotlight Site is another website or blog that has interesting CCC-related content. Spotlight Sites will be a way for me to quickly post new content here and to hopefully point you toward other interesting CCC history.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366309589443555938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 156px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DqOacM8C5YhYYd369hxbHDg38_0941efGSh_8cto1Y4JUXm11bZV0bs5hnctIMtSnvGh2r8o8-PXbFgygGa30YQRC8-VvGnBewYnaV1-7QPrQSYxujKuSRKeVN81lqIsOT7DK2Sxk5Cj/s200/Lassen+NF+CCC+Camp.jpg" border="0" />Our inaugural Spotlight Site is an interesting article entitled <a href="http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/ccc.html">Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps</a> on the National Archives website. This article gives a terrific account of the creation of the CCC and its evolution during the first year of operation. The first year of the CCC could really serve as something of a metaphor or model for the entire lifespan of the CCC, a program that always seemed to be in flux as leaders and officials shifted the focus and work of the CCC between 1933 and 1942.<br /><br /><strong><em>CCC Legacy National Reunion Coming Soon!<br /></em></strong><br />And, before I close out this long overdue post, a reminder that the CCC Legacy National Reunion is scheduled for Denver, Colorado this coming October. This will be the first time that the national reunion has been held in the western U.S. since it was held in Phoenix in 2004. Here’s a link to the <a href="http://www.ccclegacy.org/">CCC Legacy</a> website where you can get all the information.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-967683092811875602008-12-08T19:00:00.001-08:002008-12-08T19:16:21.248-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8pA12Ba1vOHg3YI0a_DgZidpe5QNRDP1otC9UwdTs79aFDSYKtZzlyqw5vFzL9p4xp2fi4Ug58I49xHmTigDuq1a6aB_BBLfdySaNMvIae30jDFeQ2xDs8Kzwdi87CWNapnMTsjNTRVmd/s1600-h/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277623397599489266" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 194px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8pA12Ba1vOHg3YI0a_DgZidpe5QNRDP1otC9UwdTs79aFDSYKtZzlyqw5vFzL9p4xp2fi4Ug58I49xHmTigDuq1a6aB_BBLfdySaNMvIae30jDFeQ2xDs8Kzwdi87CWNapnMTsjNTRVmd/s320/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC008.jpg" border="0" /></a>It's been far too long since the last post here at Forest Army. A few kind folks have emailed to ask if the blog has been closed down. My emphatic reply is "no." The business of running the local Civilian Conservation Corps alumni chapter and a number of activities associated with the 75th anniversary of the CCC have kept me occupied and without much free time to write for the blog. It's been a busy year with, among other things, the wonderful CCC Symposium at Grand Canyon, a CCC Appreciation Day in Payson, Arizona, a CCC Worker Statue dedication at Colossal Cave and the impending purchase and dedication of a second CCC Worker Statue for another Arizona location in early 2009.<br /><div><div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbu6SnWN5k4N3duvFp0xdSLWrKLNOD_DXpjSvs4GrRHQ6z5NGdLMKQHV37ddCfXp2G4V8NYWRy71CHo8G3H01eUEjPD7oVPrtLs-IfU_V73QgBw_TPsJK9EUWXfx4lD2SozO5gVb9GjY3E/s1600-h/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC034.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277623084337664898" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 195px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbu6SnWN5k4N3duvFp0xdSLWrKLNOD_DXpjSvs4GrRHQ6z5NGdLMKQHV37ddCfXp2G4V8NYWRy71CHo8G3H01eUEjPD7oVPrtLs-IfU_V73QgBw_TPsJK9EUWXfx4lD2SozO5gVb9GjY3E/s320/Merle+Timblin+Nogales+CCC034.jpg" border="0" /></a>My hope is to be able to get back into researching and writing about the CCC again so that I can place new content here at Forest Army and at the CCC Resource Page. At the very least I hope to post new and unusual photos as I find them and perhaps some personal narratives that we recently ran in the local CCC Legacy newsletter. Bear with me and check back from time to time. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-85126524903298398872008-10-01T18:06:00.000-07:002008-10-01T18:20:05.454-07:00Grand Canyon CCC Exhibit In Its Final Weeks!<div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDreUnxcsZSR-eG2TNtOuAnH_TF63c4Td1Vd2MuM_OY7frl7TkKtG4c4EGb0S0C-G_mtzheVoBLL72KV8Zp9Uq5xuEoueKB_Pe_u5CD6lWqzefUOI-47MnZK7XDhW76BJzIk4KjJas5U3B/s1600-h/GC+CCC+Symposium001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252358275053876258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDreUnxcsZSR-eG2TNtOuAnH_TF63c4Td1Vd2MuM_OY7frl7TkKtG4c4EGb0S0C-G_mtzheVoBLL72KV8Zp9Uq5xuEoueKB_Pe_u5CD6lWqzefUOI-47MnZK7XDhW76BJzIk4KjJas5U3B/s320/GC+CCC+Symposium001.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> (I must apologize. I've been remiss in my efforts here at Forest Army. What with running the local <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CCC</span> Legacy Chapter and trying to take in a number of 75<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> anniversary events, I've neglected the blog. I hope to have more new content posted on a more regular basis for the remainder of 2008. Thank you for your patience.)</span><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Y</span></strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ou</span> would be hard pressed to find a more fitting location for a commemoration of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CCC</span> than on the rim of our very own Grand Canyon and you’d be hard pressed to find a better event to mark the 75<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th</span> anniversary than the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">CCC</span> Symposium hosted by Grand Canyon National Park May 29<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">th</span> through June 1st. The Symposium marked the opening of an exhibition entitled “It Saved My Life: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942.” The exhibit is the culmination of a cooperative effort between the National park Service and the Grand Canyon Association.<br /><br />On opening day attendees were treated to a first look at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">CCC</span> exhibit in historic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Kolb</span> Studio. The space was packed and visitors young and old marveled at the exhibits and a handful of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">CCC</span> veterans basked in the spotlight as folks sought them out to hear their story. </div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252358972162592466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisy3mMbmLr_uJAvgH4-ozntmamVdslxPurvC7ok_SRkH2P7X4G4P8daEBCNXSU98s3eftINGmFnwdfaCEo5dq_0xPN0VQzH__VEtTB2d5TiB-ZjvG1Oy4Fh_yi5adPSE0r4g2X8PbxIpx2/s320/CCC+Exhibit+Crowd.JPG" border="0" />The following day attendees gathered in the auditorium of the Shrine of the Ages, enjoying a slate of distinguished researchers and historians. Among the presenters: Neil <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Maher</span> of Rutgers University, author of Nature’s New Deal. Richard <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Melzer</span> of the University of New Mexico, author of Coming of Age in the Great Depression and Renee Corona <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Kolvet</span>, author of The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada. The slate of speakers also included National Park Service historian John Paige along with Arizona historians Mike Anderson, Peter Booth and Bill Collins. In all, no less than 15 historians, scholars and researchers gave presentations during the symposium. </div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccgDYot6CT-uZKkGKkfP-4Z9myyiTSZ5PoSqUldrbz7N7shyphenhyphenmPyHrTaSEzPSUv6xtd4xUIzAaDvonI9ldeJ63obX8JiyRMUfvYlB26yyTV_Cif6eFqj5vMQgmf1_hMCphRdcjAYAne42o/s1600-h/Mr+Ware.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252359261924916770" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccgDYot6CT-uZKkGKkfP-4Z9myyiTSZ5PoSqUldrbz7N7shyphenhyphenmPyHrTaSEzPSUv6xtd4xUIzAaDvonI9ldeJ63obX8JiyRMUfvYlB26yyTV_Cif6eFqj5vMQgmf1_hMCphRdcjAYAne42o/s200/Mr+Ware.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />For many, the highlight of the day’s presentations was a visit with three <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">CCC</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">enrollees</span>, moderated by Dr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Melzer</span>. Bill Millard, Jim Ware and Willis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Canady</span> shared their memories of living and working in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">CCC</span> and provided of glimpse of their post-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">CCC</span> military experiences in the Navy and Marine Corps.<br /></div><div><br />One historian has stated that the work of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">CCC</span> advanced park development by as much as 20 years during just the first two or three years of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">CCC</span> operation, largely due to the massive labor pool provided by the program. As many as four <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">CCC</span> companies operated at Grand Canyon at any one time (on both rims and at the bottom of the canyon) and their list of accomplishments includes structures, trail building, infrastructure improvements like the stone wall in South Rim Village, trail shelters and the trans-canyon telephone line. Again, it’s little wonder that South Rim made such a fitting and majestic setting for such an event; the place fairly oozes <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">CCC</span> history!<br /><br />We’re all especially indebted to the folks who worked so hard to make this event come together and for their effort in recognizing the important role of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">CCC</span> in our nation’s history. Particular thanks goes to the exhibit committee: Mike Anderson, Bob <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Audretsch</span>, Pam Cox, Pam Frazier and James <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Schenck</span>.<br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252357873930269762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6H9Kmqzhor5bUnMHPMVptNemMm8qvEAJSg5w3_GTjas9bj9fAzwl_0qKPNMfns7UJnF3VV-b34PnfYjJBJhin_j85up-6CtD6CRtimkucnLYAOZcEbqqVuD6GJ264aPK4zC1_3WwClGLT/s200/CCC+Symposium+Crew.JPG" border="0" />Alas, the Symposium events proved far too fleeting as attendees went their separate ways, but the exhibit will continue at historic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Kolb</span> Studio until October 19<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">th</span>. If you are at all able to do so, please make the trip to see the exhibit; you’ll be glad you did!</div><div> </div><div><span style="font-size:78%;">(Photos courtesy of the National Park Service and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">NPS</span> Staff. Thank you.)</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-53056970243853630792008-04-28T10:39:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:50:51.565-08:00Joseph Speakman's Balanced Appraisal of the CCC<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs2gKJjybUW3N1u4ukG_FCdxaIK6knQj0G1wQdVS-fxw3r5hzNWwOOSc9mrzr5TfmqlexyT6RfVg2XoEH6gyG4fvYMpw-4j2QhFeA9Jt4Mz6UNr65zJTqW3pAczolSJuxLfrmVYIZbXGW/s1600-h/Penns+Woods+Cover+Image.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194356977612029746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs2gKJjybUW3N1u4ukG_FCdxaIK6knQj0G1wQdVS-fxw3r5hzNWwOOSc9mrzr5TfmqlexyT6RfVg2XoEH6gyG4fvYMpw-4j2QhFeA9Jt4Mz6UNr65zJTqW3pAczolSJuxLfrmVYIZbXGW/s320/Penns+Woods+Cover+Image.JPG" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>At Work in Penn's Woods: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania</strong></span></em><br /><div>By Joseph M. Speakman</div><br /><div>Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span></strong> don’t know that you’ll find a more balanced appraisal of the CCC than this book; it’s an elegant piece of scholarship. Joseph Speakman manages to hit all the high notes while reminding us that the CCC was, after all, a government program, and as such, it was far from perfect.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span></strong>peakman comes by his interest in the CCC naturally – like many of us his father gained from the program as a young man and the stories told seem to have ignited the fire of interest. That said, Speakman has gone into the task of scholarship with his eyes open and he seems to have remained so to the end. The result is a study of the CCC that is both interesting and informative without a whiff of an agenda.</div><div> </div><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">E</span></strong>ach of us remembers things a certain way, for a particular reason, even if we don’t in fact realize we are doing so. The experiences of Speakman’s father serve as something of an allegory for the way we have chosen to recall the CCC and its impact on this nation and the young men who rose from being the Great Depression generation to become The Greatest Generation. In the preface to <em>Penn’s Woods</em>, Speakman recounts that his father’s stories of having gained twenty pounds of muscle in the CCC were offset somewhat by the fact that his CCC discharge indicated he gained just nine pounds during his enrollment in the CCC.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span></strong>ith this seemingly inconsequential statement, Speakman sets up something of an overarching metaphor for his entire account of the work of the CCC in Pennsylvania. Specifically this: that while we may often gravitate toward the positive and uplifting aspects of the CCC, there are underlying truths that remain unpleasant at times. The CCC did not offer the same opportunities to young men of all races. The CCC occasionally squandered resources. The CCC did attempt to be too many things to too many people over the course of its lifetime. Speakman has done a terrific job of documenting these shortcomings, while avoiding the trap of revisionist polemics.<br /><br /><em><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span></strong>t Work In Penn’s Woods</em> is well documented with a substantial list of sources and notes. Speakman makes a point of apologizing early on for his use of statistical data, but he weaves the statistical material so seamlessly through the narrative that it easily becomes another useful part of the story. This book will easily find a place in the canon of CCC literature and should be on the reading list of anyone who is interested in the New Deal or the CCC.</div><br /><div><br />To visit the Pennsylvania University Press web page for At Work in Penn’s Woods, go here:</div><div><a href="http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02876-9.html">http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02876-9.html</a></div><div> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-5951209297017067552008-04-14T15:05:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:50:52.314-08:00The Two Faces of Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqBNKUXM6icRxi2RPnLLjnrTDZSVJriKqs6GNIxd6C0O-_2qVm7L7jjaOfEyKmJ-G-XzkLBuZkYHwSRk3543gm3dNTzJ03_BMI9_xd5FSWGkaEElzgdazcgSTgdSeF73TBFE2JqU-VQtX/s1600-h/mayer+camp+image.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189225916397064962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqBNKUXM6icRxi2RPnLLjnrTDZSVJriKqs6GNIxd6C0O-_2qVm7L7jjaOfEyKmJ-G-XzkLBuZkYHwSRk3543gm3dNTzJ03_BMI9_xd5FSWGkaEElzgdazcgSTgdSeF73TBFE2JqU-VQtX/s400/mayer+camp+image.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">IMAGE: <em>Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona Circa 1939</em></span><br /><br />After the dissolution of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CCC</span> in 1942, former <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">CCC</span> camps were used for a number of purposes, in many cases being dismantled and moved to other sites for use by the military. Some camps were used to confine Axis prisoners of war, while others were used to house conscientious objectors who, due to religious beliefs, chose not to enter the military, opting instead to work in camps to perform useful, non-war related work. One of the more unfortunate uses of former <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">CCC</span> camps was as internment centers for the relocation of Japanese-Americans.<br /><br />Camp F-33-A was established in Mayer, Arizona in the fall of 1933 and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CCC</span> companies alternated between the Mayer camp and other camps over time. Work done by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">CCC</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">enrollees</span> at the Mayer camp included twig blight control, trail construction, telephone line construction, bridge building, rodent control and erosion control.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1h50FaQ18xpvOezMeg9J8Cb2dn7Mtt2cYw9zZp_8NRQCITZwC6UVy3K0bECiY5kPsAb5qyTlbYqbcdPwE5qkd9bgMswbLoVkMLu4o72M7qQ7M2ZHnDNJw8M-TAfD1_vv2D-SshSWVc3RF/s1600-h/company+photo+mayer.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189228368823390994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1h50FaQ18xpvOezMeg9J8Cb2dn7Mtt2cYw9zZp_8NRQCITZwC6UVy3K0bECiY5kPsAb5qyTlbYqbcdPwE5qkd9bgMswbLoVkMLu4o72M7qQ7M2ZHnDNJw8M-TAfD1_vv2D-SshSWVc3RF/s320/company+photo+mayer.JPG" border="0" /></a> Camp F-33-A served very briefly as a temporary relocation camp for Japanese-Americans who had been relocated from southern Arizona. Nothing remains of the camp today; the area has been swallowed up by homes and a small business area alongside the road through town. A Circle K convenience store dominates the area where once stood the camp. According to a National Park Service website, the Mayer camp was occupied for a shorter length of time than any relocation camp, with the internees being moved to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Poston</span> Relocation Center less than a month after arriving at the Mayer camp.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OJafmgdakNcK7T6HZ0x9zgT7Bz-0ycOQXXrVHESrYA3e09SrxzSPzIKaLyW2INCqVtOZ2FBXUWi9ND40Ysix5dcY6ANFb1_aE-3TGBDPkLlsaw_IP1ALBPlhVBOWXb-qFZDd02quVt_H/s1600-h/company+photo+mayer+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189232345963107154" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OJafmgdakNcK7T6HZ0x9zgT7Bz-0ycOQXXrVHESrYA3e09SrxzSPzIKaLyW2INCqVtOZ2FBXUWi9ND40Ysix5dcY6ANFb1_aE-3TGBDPkLlsaw_IP1ALBPlhVBOWXb-qFZDd02quVt_H/s320/company+photo+mayer+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />During its life as a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">CCC</span> camp, F-33-A was an integrated camp, with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">enrollees</span> from a mixture of racial groups. Integrated camps were a rarity during the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">CCC</span>’s lifetime and given the camps later use, its diverse racial make up in the 1930s is ironic.<br /><br />To see the National Park Service website detailing the use of the Mayer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">CCC</span> camp as a temporary internment camp for Japanese-Americans, visit this website:<br /><a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce16c.htm">http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce16c.htm</a><br /><br />Today you would never know that a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">CCC</span> camp once stood along this stretch of Arizona highway, but if it were still standing, camp F-33-A would <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">occupy</span> the very middle of this picture.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189233174891795298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9i5bo5BA-DhqSC5tu4ak0uNHQTrcQSoTTAT94f-KPcbEuETRneUaWivYmoGNGWcP61cRJXbW9BZe2qhcqTx8pfrCPDVzJZLBnX8B3rLCAQQYlbZVIwPriRXxYyI32OWvxr-owdw3PHGS/s400/100_4330.JPG" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189236168484000642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCYkbavWqC_IwyyAuhDJBcTG9y7K0e7AZL0eciXE2HHh7HCNZ8aW8I5p28TZS9TWHBKGBtqHjacZ0SlO655QTL9NPSmBRpq1lwDw61Xh2qiWMGTmLtrgnL0dOrja_TK3k0XK4b7Uj4oV8E/s400/angled+Mayer+Camp+diagram+1939.JPG" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-65455208580905082752008-03-30T15:54:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:50:52.854-08:00Happy Birthday C.C.C.!!Today, when a single government agency can’t conduct its business efficiently, let’s remember back 75 years when four federal agencies provided meaningful work and training to millions of young men over the course of nearly a decade.<br /><div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183673451903688882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-JaybqOcd2dGoK5b-kCsRQvBvSs27-oIxVv8sgQ5dOak3tUAj_wsU2nCxL_Sk0QF9BWAIp8_fqRmwkJlDdDbpF6FulraUla0SKKlwApjY1D2t5_jgN-I2cEk_hNxufVOLgGdTUYkVgmf1/s320/Detroit+News+CCC+Inspection.jpg" border="0" /><br />Seventy-five years ago today, a conservation army was mustered for duty in the forests, fields and parks of this country to begin what would ultimately be more than nine years of continuous work. The conservation army that undertook this peaceful occupation was Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps- the CCC. Among the results here in Arizona: trail systems in Grand Canyon, visitor amenities in South Mountain and Papago Parks, improvements at Colossal Cave and forestry improvements in all of our national forests. Nationally, the work of the CCC stretches from Acadia in Maine to Yellowstone in Wyoming, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to La Purisima in California. In fiscal year 1937 alone the CCC built a total of 2,476 vehicle bridges, 11,559 miles of truck trails and they strung over 10,000 miles of telephone and power lines, largely to the benefit of our National Forests and National Parks. Multiplied over 9 years, the numbers become almost incomprehensible and the fact that we continue to derive benefit from this work three-quarters of a century later is unfathomable in our modern throwaway society.<br /></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183673958709829826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1yNAfkA3WXhS291M1lz8EbUsnch8bBS904HcdCA8R978cTEPxc0sQ5yA0j_pEquAzKhAUrtjGjWpiL_Xo_k_S7FNmdthpJxJQcV8w21yWE43FHdtRN32wQa-EROLnT9tiXgDRCefBXiG/s320/Breen+Burney+Camp+Lassen+NF+ca.jpg" border="0" />In a cooperative effort not seen before or since, the Departments of War, Labor, Agriculture, and the Interior, worked together to select suitable enrollees, provide medical checks and inoculations, issue supplies and work clothes and arrange transportation to the many camps scattered throughout the United States and its territories. The CCC was not run by the military. The camps – usually home to about 200 enrollees – were placed under the command of a reserve military officer, but military discipline was prohibited and enrollees were only under the control of the commanding officer during their hours in camp. In fact, many of the reserve officers called up to run the camps were themselves unemployed because of the national economic crisis and thus, they had a good deal more in common with the enrollees than some historians have been inclined to point out. During the workday, enrollees labored and learned under the watchful eye of foremen and supervisors from the technical services such as the Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the Soil Conservation Service.<br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183672893557940386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXtNRjP_cYIG6anmnjN_JMNHA6hexnfFENaZUYKRUy5CNcC6Q_L_lDKCPDGWNSB-uqDYweqoMmBjNb7DS-n9Z3znpx4zGAxUjCRD9Oijs6BbMgvHm3WY2bmmair9h-O7BBdVdfvdT-Tsr/s320/CCC+Sign+Shop.jpg" border="0" /><br />Ultimately, some 3 million young men passed through the ranks of the CCC between 1933 and 1942. Enrollees were housed, clothed, fed and paid $30 a month, of which as much as $25 was sent home to needy family members; after all, what good was $30 in the pocket of a lad living in a forest camp? The economy needed dollars to circulate and the monthly CCC allotments helped make that happen. Furthermore, the establishment of a CCC camp typically meant an additional $5,000 in monthly expenditures in the local marketplace because the camps bought many supplies locally, which created jobs in communities nationwide.<br /><br />The work and history of the Civilian Conservation Corps is largely forgotten. Reinvigorated enrollees lay down their shovels to take up the fight against fascism. The “boys” of the CCC became the men of Corregidor, Midway, Anzio and Omaha Beach. Vocational skills gained in the CCC camps were put to use in our factories building tanks and airplanes. Nearly to a man, former CCC enrollees will tell you that the CCC was the best thing that ever happened to them, but as a nation we tend to remember more about the World War they fought between 1942 and 1945, than we do the quieter time from 1933 to 1942 when our nation was home to the Civilian Conservation Corps and its peaceful occupation.<br /><br />In honor of this special day, here are some interesting CCC and New Deal anniversary links that have appeared on Google and elsewhere recently:<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span></strong> nice remembrance appeared in this morning's online edition of the Deseret News out of Salt Lake City.<br /><div><a href="http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695266070,00.html">http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695266070,00.html</a></div><div><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span></strong>n interesting page from channel 8 in Austin, Texas. Included on the page is a link to a video clip. I don’t think any state beats Texas for its consistent, enthusiastic recognition of the work of the CCC<br /><a href="http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=204161">http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=204161</a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">A </span></strong>nifty article that ran in USA Today a few days back. National coverage like this is rare and usually comes out only during a significant milestone event or anniversary, but it’s still nice to see the coverage and some recognizable faces and names among those being interviewed.<br /><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-18-ccc75th_N.htm">http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-18-ccc75th_N.htm</a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span></strong>ere’s a blog post from the California State Parks, announcing a special 75th anniversary exhibit to run at the state capitol. Also noted are observances at parks around the state.<br /><a href="http://yubanet.com/regional/75th-Anniversary-of-CCC---Civilian-Conservation-Corps.php">http://yubanet.com/regional/75th-Anniversary-of-CCC---Civilian-Conservation-Corps.php</a><br /></div><div><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span></strong>he CCC alumni and preservation group is known as CCC Legacy. CCC Legacy is the result of a merger between the National Association of CCC Alumni and the Camp Roosevelt Legacy Foundation. CCC Legacy has headquarters at both Jefferson Barracks, Missouri and Edinburg, Virginia. On the organization’s web page you’ll find links to events that are planned for the 75th anniversary as well as links to local CCC alumni newsletters and websites.<br /><a href="http://ccclegacy.org/">http://ccclegacy.org/</a><br /></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span></strong>he original website for the National Association of CCC Alumni is still up as well. There is a very useful list of camps organized by state, as well as a selection of CCC items like caps and T-shirts available for purchase. You can visit that site here:<br /><a href="http://www.cccalumni.org/">http://www.cccalumni.org/</a> </div><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span></strong>or an example of the ill-informed sort of information that gets posted and published about the Civilian Conservation Corps, check out this blog, if you've got two minutes to waste. (I hope to make a post about this sort of ignorance some time in the future.)</div><div><a href="http://aninconvenientdocument.blogspot.com/2008/03/dailys-march-31st-2008.html">http://aninconvenientdocument.blogspot.com/2008/03/dailys-march-31st-2008.html</a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6593309288468455857.post-79263018025611394032008-03-16T16:26:00.000-07:002008-12-12T20:50:53.120-08:00The Birth of the Civilian Conservation Corps<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuRo2wi9lrY7CAxUpUHpjqXA4qqwveJH6oeP9Trg0qtxQJWNbBlNIvPOCfMaQa2oeF0R8R_eGL3ZbyAZAnaeUnhpyraMxeRAaqz8MiDJclltaS4WCv-FDkO0Tq4NBAuerX9aANbzXm2Cz/s1600-h/Ft+Dix+CCC+tent+camp+group+picture.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178506141635061714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuRo2wi9lrY7CAxUpUHpjqXA4qqwveJH6oeP9Trg0qtxQJWNbBlNIvPOCfMaQa2oeF0R8R_eGL3ZbyAZAnaeUnhpyraMxeRAaqz8MiDJclltaS4WCv-FDkO0Tq4NBAuerX9aANbzXm2Cz/s400/Ft+Dix+CCC+tent+camp+group+picture.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>M</strong></span>arch 31, 2008 will mark the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, in an era when individual government agencies seem to have difficulty conducting the people's business, it should astound us to know that the CCC brought together the efforts of multiple federal agencies for a nearly decade-long effort that successfully employed and trained some 3 million young men as our nation stood on the cusp of war. Perhaps more amazing is the fact that, while the embryonic notions of melding work relief and conservation were in Franklin Roosevelt's mind well before he was elected president, the legislation to create the CCC passed through Congress in just 18 days.</div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>H</strong></span>ere then is a timeline of significant events connected to the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Much of this information is from John Salmond's incredible book on the Civilian Conservation Corps.</div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong></strong></span></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>1910<br /></strong></span>Franklin Delano Roosevelt takes over the family estate at Hyde Park and immediately begins a reforestation effort.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">1931</span><br /></strong>Roosevelt sponsors an amendment to the New York constitution giving the state government authority to acquire and reforest marginal lands with funds created from the sale of bonds.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">1932<br /></span>July 2</strong><br />In accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Roosevelt proclaims that he has, “a very definite program for providing employment…,” through the establishment of a conservation program. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong></strong></span></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>1933</strong> </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><strong>January<br /></strong>James Couzens, a Republican senator from Michigan fails in his attempt to pass a Senate bill authorizing the use of the Army for unemployment relief. Though a failed effort, Couzens’ measure introduces the concept of military involvement in relief efforts.<br /><br /><strong>March 9<br /></strong>Meeting with advisors, including the Secretaries of the interior, agriculture, and war FDR diagrams his plan to put 500,000 men to work on conservation-related projects. He asks Colonel Kyle Rucker, Army judge advocate-general, and Edward Finney, the solicitor of the Department of the Interior to prepare draft legislation, requesting they complete the task by days end. Roosevelt is given a draft document at 9 that evening and further discussion is conducted immediately.<br /><br /><strong>March 14<br /></strong>Roosevelt confides to Raymond Moley, a member of his so-called “brain trust” that he intends to move forward with his plan to create a conservation oriented work relief program. Moley suggests a deliberate approach. Heeding Moley’s advice, Roosevelt sends a memorandum to the secretaries of war, interior, labor and agriculture, asking them to form “an informal committee of the Cabinet to co-ordinate the plans for the proposed Civilian Conservation Corps.” </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 15</strong><br />At the request of President Roosevelt, the secretaries of war, interior, agriculture and labor meet to discuss the creation of a “civilian conservation corps.” In this initial meeting, the secretaries considered a number of aspects of the proposed conservation work program, including their recommendation that the work be strictly limited, ideally to forestry and soil erosion projects and not toward public works projects, so as not to compete with employers in the open market. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">At his third press conference, held the same day his “informal committee” meets, Roosevelt expounds on the proposed forestry work program, including the proposed wage of $1 a day. Roosevelt explains that swift action on the matter is a foregone conclusion.<br /><br /><strong>March 21<br /></strong>Roosevelt’s message concerning the “Relief of Unemployment” is sent to the Congress. In this message Roosevelt outlined a three-pronged attack on the problem, with the first effort being, “the enrollment of workers now by the Federal Government for such public employment as can be quickly started and will not interfere with the demand for, or the proper standards of, normal employment.” </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">More specifically, Roosevelt uttered what may be the most often quoted phrase in connection with the Civilian Conservation Corps:<br /><em>"I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects. I estimate that 250,000 men can be given temporary employment by early summer if you give me authority to proceed within two weeks."</em><br />Roosevelt went on to state:<br /><em>"More important will be the moral and spiritual value of such work. The overwhelming majority of unemployed Americans who are walking the streets and receiving private or public relief would infinitely prefer to work. We can take a vast army of these unemployed out into healthful surroundings."<br /></em><br />Following the President’s message at bill entitled “The Relief of Unemployment Through the Performance of Useful Public Work and for other Purposes” was introduced into both the Senate and the House.<br /><br />Labor leaders quickly condemn the plan for its wage and recruitment provisions and because of the involvement of the Army.</span> </div><br /><div></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 22<br /></strong>Roosevelt calls members of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, and the House Committee on Labor to the White House where he explains his CCC plan in more detail and attempts to allay the fears expressed by organized labor and members of the Socialist party.<br /><br /><strong>March 23-24<br /></strong>Joint Senate and House hearings begin in an atmosphere of cooperation possibly due to Roosevelt’s evening meeting at the White House the night before. Presiding over the hearings is Senator David I. Walsh, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. Walsh prods the proceedings forward in an effort to adhere to Roosevelt’s stated desire.<br /><br />Among those testifying at the Joint hearing is Chief forester Major Stuart who testified at length regarding the need for forest workers. Stuart also makes a successful bid to broaden the program’s scope of work to include not just national forests but also state and private forests. Without such a change, Stuart argues, there will have to be a transfer of men from east of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountain region where 95 percent of the public domain is situated. (With 70 percent of the unemployment located east of the Mississippi, it didn’t make sense to transport men westward to give them work.)<br /><br />Stuart is also quizzed on the issue of paying enrollees $1 a day when the regular wage for forestry workers runs in the neighborhood of $3 a day. Stuart stresses the program’s function as a relief measure and explains that skilled $3 a day workers could serve as supervisor’s and foremen, with a clear distinction between the two wage scales.<br /><br />Secretary of Labor, Miss Frances Perkins also stresses the programs aim of work relief when questioned about the proposed $1 a day wage for enrollees. She explains that most of the workers are expected to be young, single men and that the CCC should not be viewed “in the sense of providing real wage-producing employment.”<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Army chief of staff, General Douglas MacArthur testifies that there will be “no military training whatsoever,” with the military restricting its participation to gathering the men selected by the Department of Labor, outfitting the men, giving the men a physical examination and physical conditioning before transporting them to their camps where they would be turned over to the Department of Agriculture.<br /><br />The next witness is William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor. Green attacks the program on three points: regimentation of labor, low wages and funding. To Green the mandatory allotment and the involvement of the military “smacked of fascism, Hitlerism, of a form of Sovietism…” Green argues that the CCC wage of $1 a day would establish that as the national wage for workers. Other labor representatives also testify and the hearing adjourns on a far less optimistic note than it convened.</span></div><br /><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 27</strong><br />An amended S. 598 is reintroduced into the Senate. In response to the objections raised by labor, it was agreed that the focus should be on the two aspects of the program for which there were no objections from any side: the chance to perform forestry work as a means of relieving unemployment and the use of unobligated funds to pay for the program. The re-submitted bill merely authorized the President to work in the public domain, perform reforestation and employ unemployed citizens to perform the work.<br /><br />In the House opposition to the bill is more robust and broad based. Despite indications from labor leaders that the $30 monthly wage would not be contested, an effort was launched to set the pay scale at $50 a month for single enrollees and $80 a month for married enrollees.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 28<br /></strong>The senate bill is passed by voice vote over dwindling opposition, with minor amendments and in part because of the continuing efforts of Senator Walsh.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 29<br /></strong>The House considers the bill amended and passed by the Senate on March 28th. Representative Connery stood to protest the proposed wage and dramatically announced that once again, labor leaders had again changed their position and now opposed the bill. Still another faction stood to argue that the measure imparted nearly dictatorial powers on the president and would lead a majority of the population believing that “it is the Government’s duty to put them on the pay roll.”<br /><br />Nevertheless, the intent of the bill receives wide support in the House, with many recognizing it as focusing on relief of unemployment, not wage control. Representative Thomas G. Cochran of Missouri, stated that he disliked many of Roosevelt’s proposals, but admitting that “…I do like the way the President of the U.S. is trying to meet this emergency…”<br /><br />Like Senator Walsh in the senate, Representative Robert Ramspeck, a Democrat from Georgia, carries the torch for the bill in the House, emphasizing the emergency nature of the legislation and its important relief function.<br /><br />Connery’s proposal to set the monthly wage at $50 fails, along with a last minute effort by Republicans to delay proceedings. Only three amendments are adopted, including that proposed by Representative Oscar De Priest, a Republican from Illinois and the sole African-American Congressman. De Priest proposed “that no discrimination shall be made on account of race, color, or creed…under the provisions of this Act.”<br /><br />The bill is passed by a voice vote.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>March 30<br /></strong>The Senate accepts the House amendments to the bill and it is forwarded to the President.<br /><br /><strong>March 31</strong><br />President Roosevelt signs into law the legislation creating the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) program and the Civilian Conservation Corps is born.<br /><br /><strong>April 17</strong><br />The first CCC camp is established in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.<br /><br />In an article titled “Rizzo Goes To Work,” Time magazine reports that a week earlier, 19 year old Fiore Rizzo reported to the Army Building in downtown Manhattan and reported for duty as the first CCC enrollee. The CCC is off and running! </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-size:85%;"></p></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><div><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1